Zero and Zero equals a whole lot
by Pixi21
Summary: Ashley, the Lone Wanderer, in her position as a honorary knight with the Brotherhood and savior of the Capital Wasteland, is sent on a mission west which comes to a sudden stop over the Mojave. female LW/female Courier
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is my first fanfic ever, the idea just got to me..and yes I know, there are similar stories out there, I don't care. As for now, I have the first two chapters finished and the third one is WIP. Dont really have a full mental picture yet, on where this story in the whole picture will be going, guess I'll have to figure that out on the way. ;)**

**The Lone Wanderer is based on a Fallout 3 ending with very good karma. The Courier will be introduced a bit later.**

**Rated it M for language and to be on the safe side, never know what might come.**

**Reviews are welcome and I'm always open to critics and suggestions. Just try to be gentle, it's my first story after all... :P**

**Oh and as for the title, I really only have a problem with two things when writing anything: essays and titles. So please excuse me if it's kinda dumb, the explanation to it will come in one of the following chapters...hopefully, that is.  
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Ashley, the Lone Wanderer of Vault 101, or simply "101" for short as most of the Capital Wasteland knew her, groaned as she suddenly woke up, finding herself on a cold, metal floor, everything around her shaking and some sort of alarm blaring. First she thought she was back in the Vault on that fateful day of her escape, but after her mind was finally fully awake, it all came back to her. She was on a Brotherhood of Steel Vertibird on the way west, to re-establish contact with the Brotherhood there. Altho nobody could really tell her, where exactly "west" was, she figured it would be California, since that is where the Brotherhood had its origins and probably its headquarters as well.

With all her senses now fully awake she got on her feet and walked towards the pilots in the front "What the fuck was that, can't you fly that thing straight?" she asked them in an accusing tone.

"Well Ma'am," the pilot began his answer "right now I'd love to admit that I cannot fly this bird properly, but the truth is, we were just hit by a missile, power is dropping fast, I'm afraid I gotta set her down somewhere here."

Ashley took a moment to fully realize what the pilot just told her. "What? How the hell can that happen? Where are we anyway?" she asked and went to look out of the small window to her right, seeing nothing but sand and rocks, she turned back towards the crew, waiting for an answer.

"We are over the Mojave desert, or Mojave Wasteland, as it's called now, Ma'am." answered the pilot.

'_Great, another wasteland, didn't have enough of that back home, huh? But at least it's not that far from California, could be worse.' _Ashley thought while looking out of the window again, seeing a little town below the bird, but she could not tell if it was populated.

While still managing to hold the bird in a steady flight the pilot turned towards his co-pilot "Options? I don't really want to set this thing down in the middle of nowhere or worse, in the middle of an Enclave outpost." he asked him.

"Well Sir, according to the data we have about the region, there is…or was...a Brotherhood outpost in a place called Hidden Valley, I don't have any idea if it's still there, but I guess it's the best shot we have. It's only a few clicks further west, I'm pretty sure we can manage to…." he was interupted by a rumbling sound from the bird, as the first engine went out "…get there" he finished rather baffled.

"Well fuck me!" the pilot cursed out as the engine went dead and the vertibird started losing altitude, the alarms blaring again "We are so going down." he stated.

"Damn! You think you can manage to get us down in that Valley place?" Ashley, now holding on to the seat she was standing behind, asked the pilot, hoping for a positive answer, the last thing she wanted to happen being crashed in the middle of an unknown wasteland.

"Positive Ma'am, but you better take a seat and put on a seatbelt, it's gonna be tough." the pilot answered, briefly looking back at his superior.

Ashley patted the pilots shoulder briefly, saying "You can do this man, you're the best pilot we have." before heading back to her seat and fastening the seatbelt tight. What she just told the pilot was a flat out lie, she didn't know him, for all she knew he could be a rookie that just finished the Brotherhoods pilot training, which wasn't so good in the first place, but she couldn't stand there saying "Great, now we're all gonna die!", gotta stay optimistic after all.

Just about a minute later, the second engine failed, with the bird now basically falling instead of flying, shortly after that, Ashley heard the landing gear being deployed under him. "Hold on to something!" the pilot shouted back to her seconds before the vertibird connected with the ground, hard, the landing gear not doing much besides getting ripped off the machine. The vertibird slid a good hundred meters through the soft sand, crushing a few chain-link fences in the process before it came to a halt.

On the inside it looked like a battlefield, everything that wasn't attached to the bird went flying through the crew compartment. But other than that, everything was alright, Ashley looked towards the cockpit, seeing that the pilots also appeared to be unharmed but kinda stunned, just like she was.

After sorting herself she opened the seatbelt and walked up to the crew, asking "You alright?", after both crew-members gave a positive answer she looked out of the front window and, again, saw nothing but sand, they crashed right into a sandstorm, she turned to the pilot again, who was working to open his seatbelt "Where are we? And what's the condition of the bird?" she asked him.

The pilot checked one of the screens on his dashboard, before looking back up to Ashley, answering "According to the data we are spot on Ma'am, Hidden Valley, guess we had a bad timing with that sandstorm. As for the bird…I don't know, diagnostic-systems are out, can't say before I seen it from the outside, but judging from some of the sounds it made during the crash it's pretty fucked, Ma'am." he answered.

"Great. Well okay, lets get some wepons and head out, no point staying in this tin can, gotta check out where exactly we are, leave everything else, we're gonna come back." Ashley said before turning around and heading to the big trunk that contained all her gear, she had to use the big trunk since she decided not to wear her power armor during the flight and the bulky thing didn't fit in a smaller one.

And yet again, she decided against putting it on, she just took out a combat helmet that went with the set of medium armor she wore right now, Lincolns Repeater, a powerful, gold plated lever-action rifle along with some .44 ammo for it, a pair of goggles and a bandana to wrap around her face, there was a sandstorm out there after all. She had more gear in the trunk, but she thought that should be enough for now, she just wanted to have some eyes on the surroundings, they would have to come back to the bird anyway, it was their only ticket home. She turned around to see the pilots were ready too. They weren't unarmed as well, they had new-looking laser carbines in their hands, weapons the Brotherhood only recently found in an old military bunker outside the D.C. ruins and which proved quite useful for Brotherhood pilots and supply-units due to their compact size.

"Ready?" Ashley asked, looking at the pilots. They nodded in response and she opened the rear hatch of the vertibird, she had to kick it a little cause it got stuck, probably damaged from the crash. When it was lowered she slowly stepped out, looking around but not able to see anything but sand in the storm. With the pilots following close behind her and checking in all directions she slowly walked away from the bird, heading north, according to the compass on her Pip-Boy. But after a few meters they came to a halt as a voice called out to them "Stop right there, put your weapons down and your hands up, do it now!"

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**Yes, I actually finished the first chapter with a cliffhanger, wanna give my readers a reason to come back for the second chapter.**

**Read and review please, would appreciate it. ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright so here it is, the second chapter, hope its any good. Enjoy!**

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Ashley and the pilots stopped dead in their tracks, looking around she could only see the outlines of multiple power armor-clad figures, surrounding them. Figuring they wouldn't have a chance anyway, she slowly put her weapon down.

After they set their weapons down, one of the soldiers stepped up a little, Ashley still couldn't make out what kind of armor he was wearing as he started to talk again "You are violating Brotherhood territory, what are you doing out here?"

"Brotherhood? Brotherhood of Steel?" Ashley asked the soldier hopefully.

"Correct, but you didn't answer my question, wastelander" the soldier said, stepping closer. Finally, Ashley saw the Brotherhood symbol on his armor. Sighing in relief she pulled out her holotags from under her armor, holding it up "My name is Ashley, Knight with the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel, on a mission, but we were shot down." She spoke confidently.

The soldier immediately lowered his weapon and motioned all the others to do the same, before he approached Ashley, taking the holotags from her and checking it briefly before saying "Follow me, let's get out of this storm first."

They started walking, the Paladin ordered the others to get all the stuff from the crashed vertibird while he lead Ashley and her pilots into a bunker, where they were finally protected from the sandstorm and could take their helmets off.

The Paladin also dropped his helmet and approached Ashley again with some questions. "Capital Wasteland, huh? That's a long way, what are you doing here in the Mojave?" he asked.

Ashley nodded and answered "Actually, we are not doing anything HERE, we were just flying over and got shot down, we were headed further west, California to be precise, to re-establish contact with the Brotherhood division there." The Paladin gave a nod before Ashley added "And maybe some vacation." with a grin, which caused the Paladin to laugh.

"Well alright, welcome to the Mojave Wasteland and welcome to our sweet little bunker in this godforsaken valley, the only Brotherhood outpost in the entire Mojave. I'm Paladin Ramos. And now come on in, I guess elder McNamara would like to speak with you"

Paladin Ramos led her through the underground bunker towards the elders office, with just about everybody openly staring at Ashley.

"Excuse me Paladin Ramos, but why is everybody staring at me? Don't you have any women here?" Ashley asked the Paladin, who briefly laughed in return before answering "No, that's not it, they are just not used to see an outsider in the bunker, but elder McNamara will explain that all to you I think, in here." he said before opening a door at the end of a hallway.

Ashley thanked Ramos and went into the room to speak with the elder, to her surprise, she found a rather young man dressed in elders robes similar to the ones elder Lyons wears, indicating that he, in fact, is the elder.

"Ah the newcomer" he immediately started to speak "I heard about your crash landing outside, I take it you are unharmed?"

"Yes Sir, I'm good, the pilot did a nice job taking the vertibird down, but it's pretty damaged." Ashley answered.

"I already sent some scribes and knights out to examine the damage, but now tell me, what brings you to the Mojave Wasteland?" McNamara asked, sitting down behind his desk, keeping his eyes on the Lone Wanderer.

"The crash Sir, that's the only thing, we weren't intended to come here, we were on our way to California but got shot down. We were sent to re-establish contact between the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood and Headquarters back west." She answered. "But excuse me Sir, you already sent someone out? In this sandstorm? Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked him.

The elder laughed before he answered "We are creating that sandstorm, we can stop it anytime, it's our main defense system. And your mission sounds quite important, we will do everything we can to fix up your vertibird."

After that, the elder and Ashley spent some time telling their respective stories, Ashley telling her "Lone Wanderer tale" and the elder explaining the situation of the Mojave Brotherhood, which caused Ashley to frown.

Shortly after that, a scribe entered the room, addressing McNamara "Elder Sir, we finished examining the vertibird, it is severely damaged, but not beyond repair, we can fix it. We cannot give any time estimate on when it's done, the repairs are too complicated for that."

"I see, thank you, you are dismissed, start the repairs right away" he turned back to Ashley as the scribe left "You are of course welcome to stay here in the bunker until the repairs are finished."

"Thank you Sir, but no, I'll be heading out right away, I'm not one for squatting in a bunker all day doing nothing, I'll get my gear and head out. And given what you just told me, I will leave my power armor, won't do me any good out there I guess." Ashley responded, getting out of her chair and heading towards the door, turning back once more "Thank you elder, I'll stop in when I can" and with that, she left the room where Paladin Ramos was already waiting. "Heading out?" He asked her, she nodded. "Yep, right away, where did you guys store my gear?"

Ramos sighed "This way, follow me. Too bad you're heading out, some new faces would be nice around here, especially female ones." He said while leading Ashley to a room not far away, which had all her gear in it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley asked him while going in and opening her trunk, looking back at Ramos.

"Nothing…good luck out there." And with that, he left her.

'_That was odd' _Ashley thought and then went to the task at hand, packing her gear.

She took out her big backpack that was fitted with custom sheaths at both sides, one for her lever-action rifle and one for the Samurai sword she had, making them both easy to reach, if the need arises. She started packing her gear into it, clean water, rations, the important bottle caps, a few personal belongings like her Brotherhood holotags and of course, ammo for her variety of guns. Energy Cells for Smugglers End, the unique Laser pistol she got as a gift from Elder Lyons, 10mm rounds for her standard pistol, still the one that once belonged to the overseer of Vault 101, .44 rounds for Lincolns Repeater -her rifle- and very few .45 ACP rounds for her most favorite, an old M1911 she found in very good condition in an officers room in the National Guard depot. The only problem was, that .45 was a very rare caliber to find in the Capital Wasteland, but maybe she would have more luck here.

After she packed the bag, she put all her weapons in their respective places, sword and rifle going into the sheaths on her pack, the 10mm pistol holstered on her right thigh, the laser pistol in a holster at the small of her back and her 1911 in a holster on the chest plate of her combat armor.

She left her bulky power armor in the trunk and turned to leave as the pilot of her vertibird came in.

"I was looking for you Ma'am, heard you were leaving so I wanted to give you this" he held a holodisk out to her "it's all the data about the Mojave Wasteland I could extract from the systems and the scribes also added some of their data, including a fairly accurate map of the region. And I also managed to find this" he held up a folded piece of paper, grinning "it's a map as well, we all know that you prefer an actual map over your Pip-Boy when you're traveling."

Ashley laughed and took both items "Thanks, appreciate it. I suppose you're staying to help with the repairs?"

"Yes Ma'am, we'll see what we can do, the birdy is in pretty bad shape tho, so it could take a while. Anyway, good luck out there" the pilot said, saluting her and leaving. Ashley checked her gear one last time making sure she didn't forget anything and then walked to the main entrance to leave the bunker.

'_Well, off into the next adventure I guess' _She thought while standing outside the bunker complex and checking her map _'hmm…Goodsprings, straight west…maybe that's a good place to start' _and with that, she turned west and started walking towards Goodsprings.

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**And that's that. Read and review please, thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Shaithan: Maybe I explained it a little wrong. The ending was "very good". Leaving Megaton intact, activating the purifier without the FEV..etc. She isn't really a character that walks around doing nothing but good things. Hope that will become clearer as the story proceeds.**

**Umbra-Luna: Thanks!**

**And here goes, chapter 3.**

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As it soon turned out, the way too Goodsprings wasn't as much straight west as Ashley had thought, the Hidden Valley really earned it's name. She had to make her way out of the deep valley but luckily, was undisturbed most of the way. She only had to encounter a few bloatflies, which she decided to kill with her sword to save the ammo.

When she was finally out of the canyon, it was already past sundown and rather dark, the moon wasn't quite up yet. She sighed and checked her map once more _'Well, only past that little hill there, let's hope the people of Goodsprings are up late'_

Just as she reached the bottom of the hill and turned to walk around it, she heard voices, apparently from the top. She checked her map again _'That's odd, what's someone doing at a cemetery at night?' _With her natural curiosity overwhelming her better judgment of danger, she started to climb the hill.

Reaching the top and cautiously peeking over the edge, she saw about 6 men, looking a lot like raiders, circling something…someone. Noticing none of them faced her direction, she crept over behind a larger gravestone, further observing the group. They were speaking quietly so she couldn't make out what they were saying, but she could make out a man in a hideous suit standing amongst the raiders, obviously their leader, since he was the only one speaking and pointing a gun towards their victim. And then she saw who he was talking to, a woman, on her knees with her hands tied behind her back. She tried to understand what they were saying, especially the woman, who was now responding, but she couldn't hear it. The response must have been rather unpleasant for the raiders tho, since one of them stepped forward and punched her in the face. The girl fell back, obviously knocked out.

That and the knowledge, what raiders usually do with captured women made her know what she had to do. She propped her rifle on the gravestone and took aim. One of the raiders blocked her line of fire on the leader, so she couldn't take him out first. Instead she focused on the one that had slapped the helpless victim, she aimed for his head and squeezed the trigger. The rifle reported loudly and the raider fell down, very much dead. She used the confusion of the situation to calmly cock the lever when she noticed the leader of the group running off, she aimed and fired, but missed, instead hitting another thug in the shoulder.

The group of raiders had snapped out of their confusion by now, four of them left, two drawing pistols, one a submachine gun and one charging towards her with a knife. They wildly and ineffectively started shooting at her while she took careful aim on the one charging towards her, she shot and hit him in the knee, causing him to fall in the freshly dug grave right in front of the stone she was crouching behind.

She then took full cover behind the stone cause the incoming fire came closer to its target -her head- too close for comfort. She dropped her rifle, drew the pistol from her thigh holster and waited till the submachine gunner had to reload, she moved around the stone and quickly took him out with a failure drill, putting two bullets in his chest and one in his head. The she moved back to cover.

After a few moments Ashley realized that the shooting had entirely stopped, slightly smirking she yelled out "Ran out of ammo, huh? Or are you just scared?" She leapt out of her cover and to her surprise, the remaining thugs were gone, they took off running.

She shook her head as she turned toward the guy in the grave, he clutched his destroyed knee in pain, whimpering slightly.

"Pathetic. And isn't convenient that you're already in a grave? Saves a lot of trouble." she said with an evil grin on her face.

"You! Who do you think you are? The Great Khans will get you back for this!" he screamed out, still clutching his bleeding knee.

"Great who? You know what, forget it, I don't care at all. And now fuck you very much!" Ashley simply stated as she raised her gun and killed the man with a headshot.

She grinned again at the fact that the guy was in a grave and then turned around to go check on their victim. As she kneeled down beside her, she took in the sight of the girl, a strikingly beautiful redhead, with a bloody nose and a bruise on the back of her head.

Ashley was about to untie the girls hands as she heard something behind her, she quickly turned around with her pistol at the ready. Only to look in the face of a smiling cowboy on a computer screen, that was attached to a bulky robot.

"Howdy pardner!" the machine spoke with a robotic voice but still in a stereotypical southern accent.

"Um…hi. Who, I mean what are you?" Ashley managed to say, still quite dumbfounded.

"Name's Victor, Securitron and cowboy. I heard all the hassle up here and thought I should check it out. Is your friend dead?" Victor said, pointing towards the tied up redhead behind Ashley.

Ashley looked back in confusion to see who the robot is pointing out, only to realize he means the redhead she just saved "She's not my friend, i don't even know her, but she's not dead, just out cold. Are you from Goodsprings? If you got a doctor there I think we should take her to him."

"Well all right, let's get her down to Doc Mitchell then" Victor said as he picked the slender redhead up with his pincers, which caused Ashley to wince.

As Victor rolled down the hill with the unknown woman in hands, Ashley walked behind him, her rifle at the ready, still cautious about the odd robot.

As they reached a big house at the edge of the town, Ashley went to knock at door, waiting for the doctor to open.

"Yes? Can I help you?" asked the man that opened after a few moments, eyeing Victor suspiciously.

"Yeah um, are you Doc Mitchell? We got a woman here, she got hit in the head and is unconscious, thought I'd get her checked out." Ashley asked, pointing back at Victor and the girl as she mentioned her.

"Of course, bring her in and put her on the bed, I'll take a look at her." Doc Mitchell said, stepping out of the doorway to let them in, closing the door behind them.

After Victor put the girl down on the bed, he wished Ashley and the Doctor a good night and left.

"That robot just creeps me out, but alright, let's check your friend out." Doc Mitchell said, turning to the unconscious redhead, examining her.

Ashley sighed and kept her mouth shut, not in the mood to explain that the stranger wasn't her friend and instead just nodded and watched.

After a few minutes the Doc was done "Well looks like its a little concussion at most, she should be fine and wake up soon." He explained "You can sleep on the couch for the night if you want, I'll be in my room if you need anything." he continued, talking to Ashley directly now and pointing to an old couch in the corner before leaving.

"Yeah, okay, thanks." Ashley answered, sighed, thinking _'What the hell, need a place to sleep anyway, might as well stay here."_ and walked to the couch, taking off her bulky armor plates, before laying down, her pistol in hand, always on guard.

She took a last look around the room and then closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, hoping for a little less excitement next day.

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**And that's that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**DesertStar87: Thanks! **

**And here's the update.**

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**When Ashley woke up, she heard voices in the room. Opening her eyes and looking around, she saw that they belonged to Doc Mitchell and the unknown girl from the day before.

She let out a loud groan as she sat up, having slept in a rather uncomfortable position caused her shoulders and back to hurt. She just holstered the pistol she still held in hand when the redhead turned around and looked at her with a puzzled look, apparently she hadn't noticed Ashley before.

"And who exactly is this, Doc?" the redhead asked the Doctor, raising and eyebrow.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, that is the women who brought you here, but I actually forgot to catch her name yesterday, I'm sure she can introduce herself." the Doc answered.

"She sure can," Ashley answered with a smirk and held her hand out to the redhead "I'm Ashley."

"Oh thank you, you saved my ass up there!" The redhead said with a bright smile. And before she could even react, Ashley found herself in a tight hug with the smaller woman, unsure of what to do and blushing slightly, she patted the girls back. "I'm Joan by the way" the redhead said with a grin.

"Er..yeah…it's alright, don't worry about it, nice to meet you." she managed to mumble with Joan still clinging to her.

After Joan finally let go, still grinning, Ashley took a few seconds to collect herself before talking to her "Well it definitely seems like you feel better, did I get that right?"

"Oh of course, I got a hard head, you can't get rid of me that easily. By the way, why do you sleep with a gun in your hand, seems kinda…well, unsafe." Joan said.

"I'm a cautious person, which I would recommend for you too after I saw what happened yesterday." Ashley simply responded.

"Hey now, hold on! I was just doing my job, I didn't even know those guys!" Joan answered seriously.

"Your job, what's your job?" Ashley wondered out loud.

"I'm a Courier for the Mojave Express, but I can explain that outside if you come with me, I need some fresh air" Joan said while heading for the exit.

"Hang on there" Doc Mitchell stepped in "Since we only found the few papers on you that I already gave you, I wanted to give you some things." He walked to a counter next to the door and came back with a couple of items. "That's my old laser pistol with some energy cells for it and my old Pip-Boy. I hardly ever go out anymore so I don't need them, but I figured you might." He handed the stuff over to Joan who thanked him for everything and walked out.

"Well, I'll be going, thanks for the couch Doc, take care." Ashley said, picking up the rest of her gear and heading out as well, where she found Joan waiting.

"So, yes or no?" She suddenly asked.

"Are you kidding me? Yes or no to what? You didn't ask me any questions." Ashley asked, obviously confused.

"I didn't? Well sorry, I was wondering if you'd come with me and help get my package back, you know…the one that the guy in that ugly-ass suit took from me." The redhead answered, blushing.

Ashley blinked, dumbfounded "Why would you want me? I don't know anything about the Mojave Wasteland, do you?"

"No, not really, but two clueless girls are still better than one clueless girl. Besides, you look like you can very well handle yourself and I could really need someone with combat experience, I don't have any, besides killing some path-blocking critters every once in a while." The redhead stated.

Sighing, Ashley nodded "Zero and zero is still zero you know, but alright, I don't have anything else to do anyway until the repairs on my vertibird are done. Besides, that guy is still up for a beating, usually nobody gets away if I aim at them. So yeah, I'll help you. But there are some conditions."

"Conditions? Like what? Joan asked

"First, I am leading, where I go, you go, even if it's the opposite of where you have to go. If I say take cover, you take cover, if I say run, you run, got that?" Ashley said in a serious tone.

"Of course, wouldn't have done otherwise, you are clearly the one with more experience." Joan said happily.

"Good, second, I won't take you along when you use that piece of trash there" Ashley said, pointing at the old laser pistol in Joans hands "the Doc may mean well, but that thing is of no use, the only wasteland asshole it's gonna kill, is you. On the other hand, the Pip-Boy is very useful, so I ask you to use it, put it on and get used to it."

"Sir, yes Sir." Joan said with a cheeky grin as she slid the Pip-Boy on her arm and turned it on. "But I don't have any other gun, so I will have to use this until we find a better one."

"No you don't, here" Ashley said and handed her Smugglers End, her unique laser pistol "that pistol is unique and was a gift, so if you fuck it up, I'll fuck you up. And now drop the other piece of scrap metal, you won't need it, just take the energy cells."

"Wow, thank you, that even looks better than the other one." Joan said, flattered.

"Yeah, welcome. Third, yes there's more, don't look at me like that! Third, if we find that guy and you get your package, I get to kill him. If you're not okay with that, say it now and we won't join up." Ashley continued.

Joan gasped "Kill him, why do you wanna kill him? I mean….he didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"That's beside the point, accept it or don't, it's up to you." Ashley just answered.

"Alright alright, he's yours if we find him. I gotta admit I'm not really after him for the package, too. It's just, you know, you don't fuck the person that brings your mail, I'm pissed. I don't really care about the package, it's good caps, yes, but that's not the point, I want to repay him a little." Joan said with a grin.

"Good girl, starting to learn already, I might just like you. Last condition, if we meet someone who I think is a good addition to our group, I will ask him or her with us, whether you like it or not. That is it, accept those conditions or go alone, up to you." Ashley said with crossed arms.

"Done, I can live with that, I trust you won't take any total psychopaths with us, guess we're a team then, huh?" Joan said, smiling.

"Jeez, why are you constantly smiling?" Ashley said while staring at her.

"I'm just a happy person, better get used to it." The redhead responded cheekily. "By the way I already got a lead for us. The assignment for this job came from the office in Primm, guess we should go there, find out more about the package and who knows, maybe that idiot is there."

"Alright, sounds good to me, let's go." Ashley said, while already starting to walk.

"No wait! Not so fast, the Doc also mentioned a woman named Sunny Smiles here in town, said she would have some useful things for me, maybe we should find her first?" Joan said and grabbed Ashleys arm to stop her.

Ashley sighed and turned around "Well okay, guess it can't hurt, I got all the time in the world anyway, let's go find her then."

"Yay, come on, Doc said she's mostly in the Saloon." Joan said and walked towards the Saloon.


	5. Chapter 5

**DesertStar87: Yeah I planned it to be something like this for a while, let's see for how long. :P**

**Alright, finished the next one a bit earlier, here we go.**

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Ashley couldn't help but notice that she didn't even got angry when the redhead touched her, something she usually does, she wondered what caused this as she followed her towards the saloon to find Sunny Smiles.

When they entered the saloon, they were greeted by a barking dog. "Cheyenne, stay! Hey there, don't worry, she won't bite unless I tell her to." A woman dressed in leather armor said.

"Hi, I take it you're Sunny Smiles?" Joan asked the woman, not at all bothered by the dog.

"The one and only, what can I do for you?" Sunny asked cheerfully.

"I'm Joan, this is Ashley, Doc Mitchell told me you'd have something useful for me." Joan said.

"Ah you're the one Doc patched up last night, he told me. I got a rifle and some basic supplies, altho I can't provide both of you with stuff." Sunny said.

"That's okay, I'm all set." Ashley said, pointing to her backpack filled with supplies.

"Great then, let's head out back and I'll show you some things" Sunny said, starting for the door.

"Alright, you guys go, I'll check up on some things and buy some supplies in the store next door, I'll follow you as soon as I'm done, alright?" Ashley said to Joan.

"Alrighty, see you later then" Joan said as she hugged Ashley and headed out the door after Sunny.

'_Sheesh...that girl really is touchy…' _Ashley thought as she headed for the bar and sat down.

"Hey there newcomer and welcome to my saloon, I'm Trudy, what can I get you?" Trudy said friendly.

"What do you have?" Ashley asked.

"Water, vodka, whiskey, beer, Sunset Sarsaparilla, you pick" Trudy said, as she took out a glass.

"Sunset what?" Ashley asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Sunset Sarsaparilla…basically rootbeer, I take it you're not from around her? Everybody here knows and loves it. And the caps of course, are our currency." Trudy said with a smile, holding up a Sunset Sarsaparilla bottle.

"Wait, you say the caps of that Sunset Sars…rootbeer, are your currency? I only have caps from Nuka-Cola bottles, is that alright?" Ashley asked.

"Oh of course dear, there's not much difference anyway, bottle cap is bottle cap." Trudy said.

"Okay, good, I'll have a whiskey then." Ashley said, taking out a small bag of bottle caps.

"Sure, that's 8 caps." Trudy said as she poured a whiskey for Ashley.

Ashley slid the caps over and took a sip from her whiskey before speaking to Trudy "So, Trudy, any chance you saw the guys that attacked my…companion?"

"No sorry, all I know is what everybody else knows, they were a bunch of Great Khans and some other guy. I got other problems on my hands anyway, I don't have the time and the nerve to care about those things." Trudy said.

"Problems? Like what?" Ashley asked.

"Powder Gangers, bunch of escaped convicts from the nearby NCR prison, they're looking for some trader, he's hiding here and they don't know where, so now they're threatening to attack us if we don't hand him over." Trudy said.

"I see. So, Great Khans, not the first time I hear that. Who exactly are they?" Ashley said while drinking her whiskey.

"They call themselves an old tribe, but I think that's bullshit, to me they're not more than any other raider gang out there, their "base" is somewhere north of here, but I couldn't tell you exactly." Trudy said

"Alright, at least some information, thank you and good luck with your gang problem. " Ashley said as she stood up and left the saloon.

She greeted an older man in front of the saloon, who introduced himself as Easy Pete and made the short way over to the Goodsprings store. After she walked into the building she had to pause for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the relative darkness in the store. She looked around and saw nothing but empty shelves and an unoccupied counter with an old cash register.

"Helloooo? Anybody in here?" Ashley yelled.

"Hold on and quit the yelling, I'm coming!" a grumpy voice from the backroom said.

"Are you the shop owner?" Ashley asked.

"You got that right, I'm Chet, what do you want?" Chet said.

"Nice manners…I'm here to buy some supplies, what do you sell?" Ashley asked.

Chet took out a list and placed it on the table "That's my current inventory, take a look."

Ashley checked the list carefully, going over it multiple times and grinning as she realizes that there are .45 rounds on the list, which she can use in her favorite pistol, finally she found some.

"Alright, I'll take the backpack, the belt with the ammo pouches, the energy cells, all the ammo you got, except the 5.56mm and .357, the combat knife, the 9mm pistol with the matching holster, 4 stimpaks, the Med-X, all the rations you got and all the water you got." Ashley listed and then reached into her backpack to get her bag of caps.

Chet did some calculations and then said his price "That's 1200 caps, hope you got that kind of money and don't waste my time."

Ashley put her bag of caps on the counter "Count out what you need…but don't try to screw me." She said, threateningly clicking the safety of her pistol.

"Yeah sure, whatever." Chet said, beginning to count out 1200 caps. When he was done, he went to his backroom and began putting all the stuff on the counter, that Ashley ordered.

Ashley in turn, packed the ammo she needed in her own pack and the rest into the new one. When she was done, Chet had already gone back into his room.

She left the store without another word, but not without seeing the black cowboy hat that was next to the counter, figuring it would be practical against the sun for her new companion, but not willing to give Chet any more reason to be unfriendly she just took it and headed out.

Once outside, she walked towards the back of the saloon where she heard voices, when she rounded the corner she saw Joan with her back towards her, fumbling with a bolt action rifle, apparently trying to clear a jam. She motioned to Sunny to be quiet and started sneaking towards Joan, watching her clearing attempts with amusement. She snuck close behind her and peeked her head over her shoulder. Since Joan still didn't notice her, she spoke loud. "You know, this isn't some guys dick, you gotta pull it, not stroke it."

Sunny chuckled as she walked away from them and Joan jumped in surprise. "Jesus...where the hell did you come from?" she asked, startled.

"From the shop, I told you I'd go there, now gimme that". Ashley said as she put the cowboy hat onto Joans head and took the rifle from her, she took a quick look and then yanked the charging handle hard, finally ejecting the stuck round. She handed the rifle back to Joan, grinning "As I said, pull, not stroke."

"Thanks for the advice, the thing worked fine when we were hunting geckos. And what's the hat for?" Joan asked, pointing at the black hat on her head.

"When did you hunt geckos? And the hat is obviously something to protect your head from the sun, what else should it be for?" Ashley asked

"I was hunting geckos with Sunny while you took your sweet time in the store, what the hell did you do in there, take a nap?" Joan asked, adjusting her new hat.

"Yeah, that idiot Chet took a decade to do the math and count out the right amount of caps, couldn't help it." Ashley said, shrugging.

"Speaking of which, Sunny gave me this rifle and some ammo for it, I also got a few stimpaks, some Med-X, some bobby-pins to pick locks and some information about the wasteland." Joan said, counting down her supplies.

"Good, I was shopping for you, here" Ashley tossed the new backpack over to Joan "In there are energy cells for your laser pistol, a belt with ammo pouches and a holster for your new 9mm pistol that is also in there, plus ammo for it, some water and rations. That all and the stuff I already had, should get us a little. Guess we're good to start now."

Just as Ashley finished talking they heard yelling from the front of the saloon.

"What the hell is going on there?" Joan asked as she turned around.

"I don't know, but we'll find out, come on." Ashley said and started walking.

Just as they reached the side of the saloon, they heard a gunshot, followed by a series of yells and screams. They got close to the wall and drew their weapons, Ashley on point with her trusty .45 and Joan behind her with the laser pistol. They slowly made their way to the corner as they heard and explosion, followed by another scream and more gunshots.

"Automatic fire, we better be careful, alright?" Ashley asked Joan, who looked concerned.

"Sure, didn't plan anything else." Joan answered.

"Alright then, let's go." Ashley said before taking the last steps towards the corner.


	6. Chapter 6

**DesertStar87: Thanks again! ;)**

**And here we go with chapter six, slightly longer than the previous ones, enjoy!  
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**Ashley took a quick peek around the corner and immediately pulled her head back.

"Alright, we got about six guys with weapons, they got Pete and Sunny, I don't know if they are dead. And it looks like they blew a hole in the front wall of the saloon." Ashley said while she calmly put her pistol away and drew her rifle.

"And now what?" Joan asked, obviously nervous.

"First you calm down and then we're gonna take them out of course." Ashley said, grinning.

"Just like that? No plan or something, doesn't sound very reassuring." Joan said.

"Of course there's a plan, I'll pop out and take the first shot, when I did that and have to recock the rifle, you pop out and light 'em up with your laser, we'll take 'em down one by one. On three. One…" Ashley said while crouching down and peeking out again.

"Two…" She slightly moved around the corner and aimed for the head of a ganger.

"Three!" She squeezed the trigger and killed the first of the powder gangers.

Joan reacted and moved around the corner as well, firing her laser pistol towards the gangers while Ashley reloaded and shot again. That way they took down three powder gangers within a few seconds before they even reacted.

The rest of them turned towards them and opened fire with everything they had, spraying Ashley and Joan with gunfire.

Ashley grinned at Joan as they moved back to cover "Nothing quite like getting shot at in the morning, right?" She said.

"Are you insane? You enjoy this? I can't do this!" Joan yelled, her hands shaking.

"Fine, stay here then, I'll get the rest of them" Ashley said, patting Joans shoulder and setting her rifle down, drawing her pistol.

She took another peek around the corner and only saw two remaining gangers, slowly walking towards the corner. She rolled out of cover and crouched in the open and before the gangers could react she already dropped one of them with a headshot. The second fired on her but missed and Ashley unloaded the rest of her magazine into his chest, killing him. She then quickly reloaded and checked her surroundings.

She stood up and walked over to the powder gangers, placing a headshot in two they had only injured before.

"Looks like all clear." She yelled out just as she heard a scream from the corner she was behind with Joan moments ago.

'_Oh fuck…I'm so stupid!" _she thought as she rushed back around the corner, where she saw the last remaining powder ganger pinning Joan to the ground, beating her. Joan covered her face and tried to push the large man off to no success.

Ashley stepped close and drew her sword, in one swift motion she lifted the sword and brought it down onto the guys head, hacking into his skull, killing him in a very bloody way. Then she braced her foot against his head and yanked the sword out before kicking him off Joan, whose face and hands were covered in blood.

"Damn, are you alright?" Ashley asked and knelt down next to her.

The redhead answered by rolling on her side and throwing up before finally saying "Yeah….yeah, it's not my blood. But it makes me sick."

Ashley smiled and took Joan's hand, helping her up and walk away from the bloody scene "Come on, let's get you out of here."

When they walked around the corner they already saw several Goodsprings settlers moving around, with Trudy and Doc Mitchell treating Sunny.

"How's she doing Doc?" Ashley said while still holding the shaky Joan.

"She took a shot to the stomach, nothing serious, she'll be fine. Pete's dead tho, headshot, nothing I can do. Is she alright?" Doc asked and nodded towards Joan.

"Yeah it's not her blood, she's just sick. I don't suppose you got a shower in your house?" Ashley asked.

"No working one at least, but plenty of water, she can clean up there." Mitchell said, turning his attention back to the wounded Sunny.

"Thanks, I'll be back in a few to help you out here." Ashley said and started walking Joan towards the Doctors house.

They went inside and into the bathroom, where Ashley sat Joan down on the side of the bathtub. Then she grabbed one of the buckets of water in the corner and splashed it into Joans face.

The redhead squealed out, finally waking up from her trance-like state.

"What the hell was that for?" She yelled at Ashley.

"That was to wake you up and get the blood off, you don't wanna let it dry if you want it off. And now wash your hands, there's more water over there, if you did that, try to get the blood out of your shirt. I'll head out and help a bit with the mess. I'll be back in a little while, don't go anywhere." Ashley said.

Joan nodded and started washing the blood off her hands as Ashley walked out.

Ashley jogged down towards the saloon, she collected all her weapons that she dropped earlier and then helped putting all the dead powder gangers in one place while others carried off Sunny and Pete's body. After that she went to the grim task of searching the dead for useful items. She collected ammo, some sticks of dynamite, a lighter and a 9mm submachine gun which was in pretty good condition and probably came from the armory at the NCR prison, she also got a small amount of bottle caps.

She decided to put the newly acquired caps to use, bought some more water from Trudy and put it into her backpack. She also said goodbye to Trudy since she didn't plan on coming back here anytime soon. She walked back towards Doc Mitchells house to get Joan, but was stopped by Chet, who was holding a baseball bat.

"Aha! Found you!" Chet said.

"Yeah, congratulations, you found a heavily armed woman in combat armor, in a town of 20 people…I'm seriously impressed dude, now get lost, I'm busy." Ashley said.

"I don't think so, you took my hat!" Chet said.

"Your hat? Don't you have other problems?" Ashley said, knowing very well what hat he meant.

"No I don't, I don't give a shit about what's going on in this town as long as I get to trade, it actually would've been better if the gangers killed all those idiots and that includes you. And now cut the crap and give me my hat!" Chet said, pointing at Ashley with his bat.

"Seriously? Do I look like I got your hat? I'm wearing a helmet you dumbass! Now put the goddamn bat down and get out of my way!" Ashley said, stepping closer to Chet, glaring at him.

"Or what? Gonna pull one of your guns on me like a bitch? Oh wait…you are a bitch so it would be perfect." Chet said mockingly.

"Trust me buddy, I don't need a gun to take you down." Ashley said with a grin.

Chet suddenly stepped back and took a swing with the bat towards Ashley. She reacted, ducked the bat and kicked Chet in the stomach. He slumped to his knees and dropped the bat.

"You idiot, I told you to get out of my way, didn't i?" Ashley said and walked past Chet. She suddenly screamed out and fell to her knee as Chet turned around and rammed a small switchblade into her thigh. Chet used the chance to grab her roughly, holding his arm around her throat and disarming Ashley with the other, keeping the .45 and dropping her 10mm to the ground.

"Did you honestly think I'd let you get away with stealing from me? I'm gonna get the caps you owe me….where are they?" Chet said.

Ashley just groaned and struggled against his tight grip, which caused him to tighten it even more and bring the newly acquired gun to Ashleys head.

"You know, now that I think about it, maybe I don't need caps, you're quite the pretty thing, I'm sure we can work out some kind of payment, don't you think." Chet said in a slick tone.

Ashley answered by ripping the switchblade out of her thigh and ramming it into Chet's, using the moment of surprise to escape his grip and jump for her gun on the ground.

She turned around quickly and raised her gun, but only saw Chet get hit in the face with a bright red laser beam. He let out a final scream and fell dead. Ashley looked around in confusion to see Joan about 15 meters away, holding her laser pistol.

"I leave you alone for 15 minutes and you already get yourself in trouble, huh partner?" Joan said with a grin as she walked towards Ashley, holstering her pistol.

"What's with the confidence? Had an epiphany up in that bathroom? Nice shot by the way, altho I would've appreciated it a little sooner." Ashley said with a bright grin.

"Well, I figured what the hell, if I wanna get the job done I'll have to get used to it and Chet had it coming anyway. And as for the shot, I couldn't take it sooner because you didn't stop squirming. But thanks for the compliment, I might suck with a rifle, but I'm a crack shot with any laser. I just have a problem with getting shot at." Joan said, smiling, keeling down and looking at Ashleys thigh "Want me to patch you up?"

"Not necessary, that'll do." Ashley stated as she injected a stimpak above the wound and put a simple band-aid on it. "By the way, we'll have to work on that rifle skills of yours, you can't do anything with a laser, sometimes you need a bullet." She said as she stood back up and collected her weapons.

"Whatever you say, you're in charge, remember?" Joan said.

"Alright, I suppose you got everything you need? Cause I suggest we get outta here before people start asking questions, I'm pretty sure nobody heard the scene so we should go. Primm's south, let's go." Ashley said and started walking with a slight limp.

"Off into an adventure." Joan said with a chuckle and followed.


	7. Chapter 7

**All the reviewers: Thanks a lot!**

**Didn't have time to write during the weekend, but here it goes, chapter 7! I'll try to get back to my original 2 day updates.**

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"Alright, so according to my map, we gotta go down that road from Goodsprings and turn south on the I-15, from there we get directly to Primm." Ashley said.

"Cool, shouldn't be too hard then." Joan said, cheerfully as always

"Don't be too happy about it, it's a big road…and big roads often attract raider assholes. Anyway lets go." Ashley said.

They walked down the road in silence, Ashley was a little behind Joan and couldn't help but thoroughly check out the redhead.

'_Nice ass girl, I could really get used to this sight'_ She thought while running her eyes over her partner, she didn't even notice that Joan stopped and bumped right into her.

"Ouch, what the hell, you walk with your eyes closed or something?" Joan asked.

"No, I was checking…um…our surroundings, didn't see you stop, sorry." Ashley said, looking down slightly to hide her blush.

"Alright, well, there's a building of some sort up ahead, thought you might wanna know." Joan said, pointing in the direction they were walking.

"Oh…okay, lemme check that out." Ashley said as she set her backpack and went though it to get her binoculars. She looked down towards the building for few moments.

"Alright, "Jean Sky Diving", that's what the building is and there are some old trailers nearby, guarded by two powder gangers." Ashley said.

"Powder gangers? Seems like we can't get enough of them, what do we do, sneak around?" Joan asked.

"No, I don't like the idea of having them in my back, besides, it's already late afternoon, we'll never make it to Primm before sundown. I don't really want to travel at night since I don't know the region." Ashley said.

"Okay so we take them out? But how? Just go in guns blazing?" Joan asked skeptically.

"No, we don't know if there are any more of them around. The two guys look like they are on watch and they're facing away from Goodsprings, probably keeping an eye out for NCR. I'll sneak in, take a look around and figure out how to get rid of them, you stay up here, wait and keep an eye on my stuff. Watch the show, I'll give you a sign when you can come down, we're gonna spend the night at that sky diving place." Ashley said as she handed the binoculars to Joan.

"You sure? Sounds dangerous to me." Joan said.

"Yeah I'm sure, I did worse, trust me, this will be over in 5 minutes, just stay put." And with that, Ashley made her way down the road.

Joan brought the binoculars to her eyes and watched Ashley sneak towards the camp, where she first took cover behind some crates and looked around.

'_Now let's see what you do' _Joan thought as she watched Ashley turn towards the two ganger guards. Then she went back into cover and took something from her pocket, which turned out to be stick of dynamite which she was lighting. Joan thought she would just throw it at them, but instead she snuck up to them with the lit dynamite in hand.

"What the hell are you doing there?" Joan wondered out loud and kept watching Ashley, who now was directly behind the gangers and stuck the dynamite into one of the guys belt and took off running. The gangers turned around, yelled something and drew their weapons. But the dynamite was faster and the two were blown to pieces before they could fire a single shot.

Ashley checked the campsite one more time, then gave a thumbs up towards Joan.

"You crazy bitch!" Joan chuckled and packed the binoculars back into Ashleys backpack.

As she was about to stand up she heard quick footsteps behind her, she turned around and saw two geckos charge at her.

"Oh shit!" Joan yelled out as she was too slow to react and the geckos jumped her, one biting into her arm, the other into her side.

"Oww! Get the fuck off you mutant bastards!" Joan yelled and tried to get the geckos off her, unsuccessfully trying to push them away with her hands before finally reaching to her belt and taking out the new combat knife and stabbed one of the geckos dead. The second one pulled back from her and tried to bite her again in another place, Joan gave it a kick to throw it back, drew her laser pistol and killed it with two shots.

She quickly grabbed a stimpak from Ashleys pack and injected herself, then she grabbed all their stuff and hurried down the road to their night quarter.

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Ashley just finished preparing the room for the night with two bedrolls she found in the powder ganger camp as she heard the door, she turned around to see Joan.

"What took you so lo…..What the hell happened?" She asked as she saw Joans slightly bloody shirt.

"Two geckos apparently decided I look tasty and wanted a bite. They're dead now and I took a stimpak, I'm fine, just little bites." Joan said with a grin and put the backpacks down.

"Can't blame 'em." Ashley mumbled.

"What?" Joan

"Nothing." Ashley answered.

"So, that was some wicked thing you did with those two gangers, how the hell did you get that idea?" Joan asked.

"I actually did it before, but with frag grenades. I got the idea after doing some simple pick-pocketing, if I can take the stuff from them, why not leave something? It's a good way to kill a target without revealing yourself as the killer." Ashley said.

"Speaking of which, where are you from anyway? And what did you do there?" Joan asked.

"Curious one, huh? I'm from the east coast, Capital Wasteland. I lived in Vault 101 for 19 years before I left." Ashley said.

"Alright and what are you doing here?" Joan asked.

"I crash landed, I was headed for California on a mission for the Brotherhood of Steel." Ashley answered.

"Alone? Why didn't they send more people?" Joan kept asking.

"Well, the elder said it was me because I have the most wasteland experience and such. But I think he just wanted to get me away from his daughter, we were getting to close for him." Ashley said.

"Too close how? Sharing stories and diary entries?" Joan asked, chuckling.

"More like sharing beds." Ashley simply stated.

"I thought so." Joan said with a smirking and then asked "So why'd you leave your Vault, wasn't it safer there?"

"My father escaped and caused a lot of chaos in the Vault with it. The Overseer thought I had something to do with it, so I was basically wanted and had to leave. Besides, I wanted to know why my father left without even mentioning it to me. So Amata, the overseer's daughter and good friend of mine, helped me escape through a secret tunnel under the overseers desk." Ashley said.

"How close were you and that Amata?" Joan asked.

"What does that have to do with anything? Anyway, saying we were close is an understatement, we were in love…and I pretty much begged her to come with me, but she wanted to stay, wanted to talk sense into her father and help keep the Vault from falling apart." Ashley said.

"Wow, must've hurt." Joan stated.

"You have no idea, but I didn't have a choice, I had to leave without her and it was…overwhelming to say the least, stepping out of there for the first time, seeing the sun, the wasteland. My first stop after leaving was Megaton, a town that was build around a live nuclear bomb, hence the name. I stayed there for a while, made some friends, did some work." Ashley said.

"Wait, wait! A live nuclear bomb? And people lived there?" Joan asked in awe.

"Still do, yes, but I defused the bomb after a while, I kinda wanted to build some sort of life there and didn't wanna have a house near a live nuke." Ashley said.

"Get outta here! You defused an actual bomb?" Joan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I did, after some research, wasn't too hard, just remove the main fuse and cut some wires." Ashley said.

"Alright, so what'd you do next, I'm guessing you didn't stay in Megaton." Joan said.

"No, of course I didn't, that sleazy bartender Moriarity wanted caps for the information where my father went. I had the caps, but I didn't wanna pay that asshole, so I snuck into the bar at night, hacked his computer and got the info that my dad went to Galaxy News Radio to see the DJ, Three Dog. I used the saved caps to hire Jericho, a grumpy ex raider and we started the trip." Ashley continued.

"You HIRED a raider?" Joan asked.

"Well it wasn't really hiring, but he needed 1000 caps for preparations. He was a total asshole and constantly tried to hit on me, but I needed him, he knew the way to GNR, which is in the middle of the D.C. ruins. Plus he was a crack shot." Ashley said.

"Sounds a little risky to me, I mean…he could always do his raider thing to you." Joan said.

"Oh no, I trusted he wouldn't. He was miserable in Megaton, he missed his old life in the wasteland and I was his only shot to get it back." Ashley said, grinning.

"Alright, you are here so I guess it worked out. The next step was Galaxy News Radio I take it, what happened there?" Joan asked.

"That's a story for another time, right now I need something to eat and some sleep, hand me my backpack will ya? Ashley said.

"Oh come on! I'm curious!" Joan said as she handed the pack over.

"Yeah I can tell, but wont tell you any more right now, deal with it." Ashley said as she took a ration from her pack and opened the bag.

Joan pouted, but did the same, with the hunger being greater than the curiosity at that moment.

After they ate, Ashley locked the entrance to the building and they got as comfortable as they could on the bedrolls they looted and went to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**So much for my two day updates...**

**Anyway here's the next one. And thanks for the review!**

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**When Joan woke up, she checked her Pip-Boy to see that it was 7am. She stretched a little and then stood up. She walked over to Ashley, who was still sleeping, and tapped her shoulder to wake her up.

Ashley didn't react, so Joan shook her a bit.

"Come on, wake up sleepyhead!" Joan said, giggling slightly.

Suddenly Joan found herself with a gun in her face, Ashley looked confused and angry and took a moment before she realized she was looking at Joan.

"Jesus! You seriously need to chill out girl!" Joan said while taking a step back and holding her hands up.

"Fuck, don't ever wake me up like this!" Ashley said and fell back onto her bedroll, tucking the gun away.

"Well how else am I supposed to wake you up? I can hardly know that you're gonna shoot me. Good morning by the way." Joan said

"Yeah yeah whatever, what time is it? Ashley asked.

"It's 7am, Sun should be up." Joan answered.

"Alright, lets have a bite to eat and then get going, I wanna make the way to Primm today if possible." Ashley said.

"That shouldn't be a problem, Primm isn't that much of a way from here." Joan said as she reached into her backpack to get another ration and some water.

Ashley did the same and after a quick breakfast they packed their gear, attaching the new bedrolls to the packs. Joan was about to open the door when Ashley called her back.

"What the hell are you doing? You can't just walk out like this after a night stop." She said.

"Why not?" Joan asked.

"Because we have to be careful, there could be new gangers out there, or random mutated shit, you never know, let me go first." Ashley said and walked past Joan, slowly opening the door with her gun at the ready.

"Alright Miss know-it-all, lead the way." Joan said with a grin as Ashley shot her an annoyed look.

"Looks clear, let's go." Ashley said and walked out, followed by Joan. They turned south and started following the I-15.

"So, any chance to hear the next part of your story? It's really interesting and fun to listen." Joan said.

"No, not while we're walking. And don't look at me, look around, I don't wanna be surprised." Ashley said while checking her map.

"Fine, but I'm telling you, you need to relax, really." Joan said and started to look around.

"I see Primm up ahead, at least I think it's Primm…." Ashley said and checked her PipBoy "Yep, it's Primm, hand me the binoculars from my backpack."

Joan stepped behind Ashley and took the binoculars out, she handed them over and waited.

"Okay, looks like the fastest way into the town is through that military outpost on the other side of the overpass. Brown uniforms, flag with a bear, does that ring any bell?" Ashley said and looked to Joan.

"A bear? Sure, that's NCR, they're cool, they don't shoot on sight…mostly." Joan said.

"Good, then let's go." Ashley said and headed towards the NCR outpost.

They approached the trooper on watch and he raised his rifle.

"Stop right there! What do you want?" He said.

"Easy there! We're just on our way to Primm." Ashley said calmly while Joan visibly squirmed next to her.

"Primm? That's gonna be difficult, the town is in the hands of escaped convicts." The trooper said and lowered his rifle.

"Wait, you let convicts that escaped from YOUR prison take over a friendly town?" Ashley said and raised an eyebrow.

"Talk to Lieutenant Hayes for further information, you can find him in the command tent back there." He simply stated.

Ashley shrugged and walked past the trooper towards the big tent in the back of the outpost with Joan following close. They approached the tent, which had another trooper standing guard.

"We're here to speak to the officer in charge." Ashley said.

"Sure, go in, but only one at a time, sorry." The trooper said.

"You go in, I wanna check the situation here. Plus I want you to get a little experience in talking to people and maybe convince them." Ashley said to Joan.

"Alright." Joan said and walked into the tent while Ashley turned and walked through the camp.

"What can I do for you?" A man, obviously Lieutenant Hayes, asked Joan.

"My friend and I were on our way to Primm to find somebody and one of your trooper told us the town is in the hands of convicts." Joan said.

"Ah yes, a very unpleasant situation, we came here after we heard of the take-over. But we just don't have the manpower to deal with them, we set up this barricade to keep them from going further towards Mojave Outpost. I keep asking command for reinforcements to take the town back, but It's getting denied over and over again. Primm's just not important enough to them." Hayes said.

Joan thought for a second, then said "Well, can you at least allow us to go through? We really need to get in there and I don't think they'll shoot at us since we're not NCR."

"By all means, I wont stop ya, but there are several frag mines on the bridge, so you'd have to disable them before going over." Hayes said.

"Alright, I'll talk to my friend." Joan said and walked out of the tent.

She walked around a bit and found Ashley behind some sandbags at the bridge.

"Hey Ash!" She yelled out.

"Yeah? Got anything?" Ashley asked

"Yep, he explained the situation. NCR came here after the convicts but didn't have the manpower to deal with them, he says he keeps requesting reinforcements but gets denied." Joan said.

"That's some bullshit. Manpower…hilarious, these are poorly armed, untrained idiots in that town. One would think a well trained group of soldiers could take them out within minutes. Fuck, I could take them out within minutes." Ashley said, earning glares from a nearby NCR trooper.

"Well I don't know, Hayes said we can go over, but there are…"

"…mines on the bridge, I know, I saw them. Never seen mines that were placed worse. Just openly laid out. Bunch of amateurs these NCR guys." Ashley interrupted Joan.

"Alright then, how do we get past the mines?" Joan asked.

"Easy, go in, wait till the activate and push the flashy red button on top, then we can even use them for ourselves." Ashley said.

"Are you crazy? Going right through mines?" Joan asked.

"It's the only way and it's a piece of cake. Just relax, I'll do the defusing, let's go." Ashley said and already started for the bridge.

They walked onto the bridge and towards the first mine, Ashley crouched and approached it slowly. Joan nervously bit her lip as it started beeping and flashing, but Ashley was quick to push the button and deactivate the mine.

"Pack it!" Ashley said as she picked up the mine and tossed it to Joan.

"Are you out of your mind? You cant just throw mines at me!" Joan yelled.

"Sure can, they're harmless until armed, now pack it please, I wanna get the next one." Ashley said and walked further onto the bridge. They repeated the game with four more mines until they were over.

"Finally, I hate mines!" Joan said.

"Yeah, I don't like them a lot either, but they can be useful. By the way, did you see that military vehicle in the underpass?" Ashley said.

"No, didn't look down, why?" Joan asked

"It looked like it was in pretty good condition. When we leave Primm we should check it out, maybe there's some useful supplies in it. But now let's see if we can't find anything out about that package of yours. Any ideas where to look?" Ashley said.

"Well, my best guess would be the local Mojave Express branch. Primm was my next destination, here I was supposed to get further information on where the package was going. But I got ambushed not far from Mojave Outpost, so I don't know a thing, never been here." Joan said.

"Okay, let's hope the Mojave Express still exists, with that convicts everywhere. They don't look to friendly and the guys on top of the rollercoaster are in a good position. I think we should avoid contact and get in one of the buildings, I'm suggesting the big casino on the left." Ashley said and pointed at the Vikki&Vance casino.

They couldn't talk any further as bullets starting impacting on the road around them, two convicts were coming towards them, firing.

"Fuck, come on, behind the building, get to cover!" Ashley yelled and pulled Joan with her as she ran behind the casino.

"We just can't have a quiet, relaxing part in this journey, huh?" Joan asked breathlessly.

"Less talking, more doing, give me one of the mines!" Ashley said.

Joan did as told and gave Ashley one of the mines. She activated it and slid it close to the corner of the building.

"Now get back a little and wait for the boom." She said with a grin.


	9. Chapter 9

**Shame on me, no update for a week! Work's been crazy busy. **

**But to make it up I made this one extra long, enjoy!  
**

* * *

They took a few steps back and trained their guns towards the corner. And as Ashley predicted, one of the convicts rushed around and activated the mine. He looked down in surprise as he heard the distinctive beeping and then was killed by the exploding mine.

Two more followed around the corner, expecting not much more and were gunned down by Ashley and Joan with bullets and lasers.

The girls waited a few more moments and then Ashley walked back towards the corner and peeked around it.

"Looks clear, but I doubt that this was it, NCR would've stormed the joint if there were only these three guys, lets be careful and head into the casino." Ashley said.

"Alright, I'm right behind you." Joan said.

They moved around the side of the casino and kept hugging the wall to stay low profile. When they reached the front Ashley took another glance.

The ground looks good but there are a lot of them on top of the rollercoaster. On my mark you make a run for the door, I'll cover you and follow when you're inside." Ashley said and took out her rifle.

"And who's gonna cover you?" Joan asked.

"Other than you, I'm a good shot at all ranges sweetheart, I can cover myself. Don't worry about it and get ready." Ashley said with a sly grin.

"Oh how very decent of you, to once again mock my shooting skills. Now lets do this, I'm ready." Joan said after reloading her laser pistol.

"Okay, remember to be careful when entering, we don't know what's inside. And now go, go!" Ashley said and crouched down, taking aim at the convicts on top of the rollercoaster.

Once Joan passed by her, Ashley opened fire, shooting quickly and not most accurately, but effectively covering Joan and taunting the convicts to shoot at her.

* * *

Joan heard Ashley open fire and also the returned fire from the convicts, she ran as fast as she could towards the casino doors and burst through them.

Inside, she was greeted by several people and a protectron robot who were aiming at her, she quickly raised her hands and dropped her pistol.

"I'm not an enemy, I'm just taking cover!" Joan shouted out so that nobody would decide to shoot her.

"Doesn't seem that way, but what are you doing in this of all towns? These convicts basically took over." An older man said to Joan as everybody lowered their weapons.

"Yeah, came here for informations, really important ones." Joan said and then turned around as there was now automatic fire outside.

"Got someone with you out there?" The old man asked, also looking at the door, that suddenly burst open again and Ashley stumbled in, submachine gun in hand and followed by several bullets impacting in the door.

"Jesus Christ there's a lot of them!" Ashley said, panting.

"You alright?" Joan asked and closed the door quickly.

"Yeah, haven't been hit, took out a few of them but I ran out of nine millimeters." Ashley said, tossing the empty weapon on the floor.

Joan nodded and turned back towards the old man.

"My Name's Joan, I'm a courier for the Mojave Express, I was ambushed and got my delivery stolen. The guy was possibly headed towards Primm, any chance you saw him? He would've been wearing an ugly checkered suit." Joan said.

"Oh I knew your name sounded familiar, that delivery was sketchy, had six couriers headed for the same destination, I'm guessing diversion. About your guy, I don't know, it's possible. You should ask deputy Beagle, he keeps track of all the people that come through here. I'm Johnson Nash by the way, manager of the local Mojave Express branch." He said.

"Oh….alright, so where can I find this deputy Beagle?" Joan asked hopefully.

"That would be the question, the convicts took him after they killed our sheriff and his wife. Took him to the Bison Steve's. Dunno what happened after that." Nash said.

"Guess that's where we're headed then." Ashley threw in. "Got any more 9mm ammo by any chance?"

"Yeah I got ammo, hey tell you what, you find Beagle and you get it for free." Nash said as he went to a few boxes at the side of the room and tossed a few bags of ammo to Ashley.

"You got yourself a deal!" Ashley said as she started loading the rounds into her empty magazines. "You all set with supplies Joan?"

"Yeah, didn't spend too much of it, we should be fine for now." Joan answered.

After a few minutes Ashley was finished, she stood up and loaded a freshly magazine into her SMG.

"Alright, here's the plan. There are some pillars outside, you take the SMG and make a run behind one of them. You draw fire, lay down some suppressing and I'll pick them off the damn rollercoaster." Ashley said and tossed her SMG and some spare mags to Joan.

"You serious? You know I'm not great when getting shot at." Joan said.

"Damn right I'm serious. You're a terrible shot at those distances so there's no other way. Besides, you have a big old concrete pillar as cover." Ashley said while she drew her rifle and checked the load.

"Okay, I think I can handle that." Joan said after taking a deep breath.

"You'll be fine, just be careful, alright?" Ashley said and gave Joan a reassuring smile.

"Let's do it before I get a change of heart here." Joan said and walked to the door.

"Okay, get ready, on three I'll kick the door open and you run for the pillar. One, two, three, go!" Ashley shouted and kicked the door.

Joan ran through and got to the pillar without getting shot at, but then the bullets started landing in the concrete and she took cover.

"Come on, shoot back, I need the cover!" Ashley shouted.

Joan took a few deep breaths and then turned around the pillar and started firing at them.

Ashley laid down by the doorframe and began picking off the convicts one by one with her rifle. With suppressive fire from Joan and Ashleys precision the enemies on the rollercoaster were soon dealt with, Ashley reloaded her rifle as she walked over to Joan.

"Everything alright?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, just dandy." Joan said as she checked the magazine in the SMG.

"Good then, next step will be harder, fighting inside a building isn't easy. I want you to keep the SMG, it'll come in handy, I got my pistols." Ashley said and they crossed the street and carefully entered the Bison Steve's casino.

They walked through the lower level without encountering any convicts.

"I don't like this, it's too quiet." Ashley concluded.

"Well the quieter the better if you ask me." Joan said as she entered the next room, where they found a tied up man.

"You untie him, I'm cover." Ashley said and positioned herself to see both doors.

Joan went over and untied the man.

"Who are you? Are you alright?" She asked.

"I am deputy Beagle and yes, I'm fine. Thanks for the help, I think the rest of them is upstairs, we should clear them out." Beagle said.

"No! You're getting out of here, Primm is gonna need a sheriff when this is over and we also need some information from you, so I wont risk anything here." Ashley said.

"Alright, alright. I know their leader too the manager's office upstairs, but I don't know how many of them are actually left." Beagle said as he stood up.

"That's alright, we'll find out." Joan said.

Ashley handed him her 10mm pistol for protection and he walked away towards the exit. Ashley pointed at the staircase.

"Guess we're heading up." She said.

"Yeah, I'll go first." Joan said confidently.

"Look at you getting better." Ashley said with a grin and motioned for Joan to lead the way.

They slowly walked up the stairs, Joan first. She carefully approached the turn and suddenly yelped in surprise as a convict, standing behind the corner, swung a baseball bat at her. He hit her square in the chest and she fell back down the stairs. Ashley lifted her gun and pulled the trigger, but all she got out of her .45 was a disappointing click, the slide locked halfway back, the gun jammed.

"Oh fuck me!" Ashley managed to curse before getting hit with the bat as well and following Joan in falling down the stairs.

Ashley groaned and saw several convicts emerging down the stairs. She instinctively reached for her other gun in her thigh holster and just then realized that she gave it away.

"Oh damn…." She whispered as the convicts stepped up to the two girls and stripped them of their weapons.

"Now look what we have here, heavily armed hotties, this is gonna be fun." One of them said.

"Take this one up to the boss, he likes blondes and will want to have her to himself for a little." Another said and pointed at Ashley.

"Yeah that's not too bad, we can have fun with the redhead in the meantime." The first one said again.

Ashley struggled as two of them picked her up, tied her hands and started dragging her upstairs. She looked back to see that they did the same to Joan, who also fought and struggled to no avail.

'_Alright Ash, think…you gotta figure out a way outta here!' _Ashley thought as she got dragged across a hallway and into a room where another convict was standing.

"Got a present for you boss, be careful tho, she's a fierce one." One of her captors said with a laugh.

"Oh now isn't that something, thanks guys, I think I can handle the bitch." The other guy, obviously their leader, said.

The two thugs forced Ashley to her knees and left the room, leaving her with the leader. Ashley glared at the guy, still thinking of a way out.

"You know what's gonna happen now, don't you cutie?" The leader said, grinning.

Ashley grinned slightly as she got an idea.

"Yeah, yeah I do. And you know what? I think it's pretty awesome, been a while since I was with a man, about time for some fun." Ashley said slyly.

"Oh…I was kinda looking forward to you fighting back, but I guess this works too." The leader said.

"But you know…it's always better if both participants can use all their body parts." Ashley said and held up her tied hands.

"I see…well my guess took all your weapons so I guess that works out, but I will watch your hands!" He said and untied Ashleys hands.

'_Alright now…don't rush anything...let him go for it!" _Ashley thought to herself as she rubbed her wrists.

"Good, now let's get to business." He said and started undoing his pants.

Ashley fought the need to throw up and instead reached down to her leg, she slightly pulled away one of the leg pieces of her combat armor and gripped the handle of her hidden switchblade. She looked up and saw the leader already took off his pants and stepped close to her again.

"I'm impressed…didn't think you are that stupid." She said mockingly.

"What are you…AAAAH! Fuck!" He screamed in pain as Ashley rammed the blade into his crotch. He fell to his knees and slumped down, screaming and whimpering. Ashley left the knife in him and quickly grabbed the revolver from the guys belt, aiming at the door.

And just as she expected, the two convicts that dragged her up rushed in. Ashley spent one round on each of them, killing them both with perfect headshots. She then took all but one round out of the revolver and spinned the cylinder before walking to the leader and pointing the gun at his head.

"One round. Russian roulette. If you're lucky enough to survive two attempts, I'll let you live. Any last words?" Ashley said.

He didn't answer so Ashley pulled the trigger. He visibly jumped as he heard the gun click, but no shot. Ashley heard him breath out in relief and pulled the trigger again, but again there was no shot.

"Wow…lucky bastard, guess you'll live then." She said and walked to the door, picking up a nine millimeter from one of the dead.

"Just one question. Did you actually think I'll let you have your way with me without resisting?" She asked.

"Kinda." He only said.

"Well…I lied. And know with what else I lied?" Ashley asked.

"With what?" He asked

Ashley didn't answer, she simply killed him with a headshot.


	10. Chapter 10

**Now this was a long gap, my apologies for that, been overloaded with work.**

**But here it is, chapter 10, enjoy!**

* * *

After she killed the leader, Ashley quickly reloaded her newly acquired revolver and also checked the load on the thugs 9mm, then she spotted a rifle on the desk that once belonged to the casino manager. She walked over and picked it up, noticing that it is a pump action shotgun, she took it and loaded it up with some shells from the desk.

"That'll come in handy. Now off to save my companion." She said to herself and then walked back to the door, entering the hallway with the shotgun at the ready. She slowly walked towards the stairs, checking every room on her way, altho she didn't expect anyone to be in since they would've come to aid their leader. When she approached the stairs she heard two men talking, obviously getting closer to her.

"I'm telling you I heard gunfire upstairs, multiple shots!" One of them said.

"What, you think blondie would be able to kill the boss and two guards? Don't be stupid! Maybe the boss shot the bitch, nothing to worry about." The other replied.

"Well who cares, I'm checking anyway, better safe than sorry." The first said again.

"Alright alright, if it gets you to quit pissing your pants about a few shots." The other one said and Ashley heard them coming up the stairs. She aimed her shotgun at the corner of the stairs, waiting for them.

When they walked around the corner she pulled the trigger, hitting both of them with one blast, sending them back down. She heard them groan in pain downstairs, she didn't kill them, she pumped her shotgun and walked down. One of them was laying halfway down the stairs, struggling to reach his gun, but Ashley silenced him with another shotgun blast. The other one was all the way down, not moving, either dead or dying, Ashley didn't pay attention and walked by him, starting to search the ground floor for Joan. She walked back into the room where they found Beagle and heard screaming and shouting, both male and female, on the other side of a closed door. She stepped closer and listened, definitely hearing Joans voice, altho she couldn't tell why she was screaming. Bracing to see the worst, she tried to open the door, which turned out to be locked.

"Great." She muttered under her breath and took a step back. She pointed her shotgun at the lock and blasted it away, kicking the door in right after that, entering the room and scanning. She stopped abruptly as she saw what was basically a massacre, several dead convicts and blood everywhere.

"What the fuck…" Ashley whispered as she looked around, stunned by what she saw. The first thing she saw was Joans laserpistol in the middle of the room, probably the cause of death for the convicts, then she saw her companion, kneeling in the far corner of the room, silently sobbing, half naked, her clothes torn and she too, was covered in blood.

Ashley walked over, lowering her gun and kneeling down in front of Joan.

"Joan? Are you alright?" She asked softly.

The redhead looked up and her expression softened instantly.

"Ashley, you're alive!" She said.

"'Course I am, takes more than a few braindead ex-cons to kill me." Ashley replied with a grin. "But that wasn't the question sweetie, are you okay? Lotta blood here…" She said.

"I…I don't know…it all happened so fast." Joan said.

"What happened so fast? Tell me." Ashley said.

"They dragged me in here, tied my hands. And this one guy held me, he was ripping my clothes away, touching me…" Joan shivered "…I think he was going to rape me. But they didn't tie my hands pretty good, the rope came loose, I lost it. And then I heard gunshots from upstairs and something snapped, I grabbed the knife from the guys belt and slit his throat, then took my laser pistol from the table and shot three others, I think they were too stunned or stupid to react. The last one was unarmed and my pistol empty. So I stabbed him, he was trying to get away but I stabbed him again…and again, over and over." Joan said and pointed to a severely mutilated convict behind Ashley.

"Impressive. And you weren't hit?" Ashley said after she looked around again.

"I don't know, at least I didn't feel anything. There is a lot of blood tho…" Joan said and looked over herself.

"Well you slit someone's throat right in front of you, but hold still, imma check you out." Ashley said and started examining Joan.

"Alright, check away." Joan said.

"Girl you really must be on an adrenaline rush if you didn't feel that, you got a bullet in your arm." Ashley said.

"What? I didn't feel anything! I don't even remember any of them shooting." Joan said with a puzzled expression.

"Well obviously they did, but not to worry, I'll fix you up, not the first bullet wound I've seen, just hold still, you shouldn't feel anything anyway." Ashley said and rushed over to their gear, getting the medipack. She poured some water over Joans arm and cleaned most of the blood off, then she took a pair of tweezers and took the bullet out, Joan looked away as she did so. At last she injected a stimpak right above the wound and wrapped a bandage around it.

"Alright, good as new, you feel okay to stand up?" Ashley asked, holding her hand out.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Joan said and Ashley helped her up.

"Good then, lets take our gear, loot these idiots and get the hell out of here." Ashley said and started to search the room for useful items.

"Hey I almost forgot to ask, what happened upstairs, you don't have a scratch. Did they let you go?" Joan asked while getting all her gear back in place.

"Not exactly, but their leader was even more stupid than the rest of them, I tricked him into untying me. Then I stabbed him in the crotch, shot his two guards and played a little Russian roulette with him." Ashley said while taking a pack of shotgun shells from one of the dead.

"How'd you trick him?" Joan asked, watching Ashley.

"Well, basically I told him he didn't have to rape me, cause I wanna be fucked anyway. He believed it and untied me." Ashley simply said, shrugging.

"Do you?" Joan asked.

"Do I what?" Ashley said, looking slightly confused.

"Want to get fucked." Joan asked, smirking.

"What…uhm…no, of course not." Ashley said, turning away to hide her blush, pretending to loot another body.

Joan chuckled and walked outside. "I'm gonna check the other guys for stuff." She said, leaving Ashley behind.

"Damnit, that girl can read me like a book." Ashley muttered silently and grabbed the last things before heading out too. She met Joan who was already finished getting pistols and ammo from the two dead cons at the stairs.

"Got two pistols and ammo, figured we can sell the crap." She said.

"Good thinking, let's hope Nash is gonna pay good cash, let's go, we need to have a little chat with Beagle.

"And I also need some clothes." Joan concluded with a chuckle.

"What? Oh yeah, almost forgot that. I think I got one of my vault jumpsuits in my pack, we're gonna check that once we finished our business."

They walked out of the Bison Steve's and back towards the Vikki and Vance Casino. When they entered, Deputy Beagle approached them.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked, looking at Joan.

"Long story, nothing we need to discuss, we need some answers now." Ashley interrupted.

"Of course, of course, what do you want to know?" Beagle said.

"We're looking for a guy in an ugly, checkered suit and some great Khans I heard them say something about Primm, did you see them by any chance?" Joan asked.

"I keep track of anyone who comes here and it was hard not to see those guys, they didn't stay tho, just went through. Heard something about Nipton and Novac, guess that's where they went." Beagle said. And while he spoke, Ashley already checked her map for Nipton and Novac.

"Alright, Nipton is first on the route, it's a bit of a way to Novac, but not unmanageable. But it's kinda late, we should get ready and head for Mojave Outpost first before nightfall." Ashley said.

"Okay, thanks for the Information Deputy." Joan said.

"Don't mention it. And by the way, this belongs to you I think." Beagle said and held out Ashleys pistol.

"Oh right, almost forgot that, thanks. Now lets find Nash and get the stuff we need." Ashley said and took the gun.

After that they talked to Johnson Nash, sold the weapons of the convicts and bought some new ammo and other supplies.

"If you want, you can use the room in the back of the casino to get yourselves in order, there should also be some clothes in the dressers." Nash said after they finished their trade.

"Thanks, appreciate it." Joan said and they walked into the mentioned room.

"Alright, you clean up and look for clothes, I'll take a look at our weaponry." Ashley said and took all their guns.

"Yeah, better do that, since your pistol jammed and all." Joan said teasingly.

"Don't tease me lady, I can kick your ass!" Ashley replied and laughed before putting the entire arsenal on the table and sitting down.

While Joan checked all the dressers for clothing and cleaned herself, Ashley took apart their weapons, cleaned them and put them back together.

"How do I look?" Joan asked after a few minutes.

"It's a shirt and jeans, pretty tight ones at that, cant do much wrong." Ashley said amused after looking over.

"Alright, how are the weapons?" Joan asked and walked over to Ashley.

"All in good condition and freshly cleaned, my jam was from a low quality round, the gun is fine." Ashley said and slid Joans weapons over to her, who put them in their holsters and holding the SMG in hand. Ashley slung the new shotgun across her back, put the backpack over it, holstered her pistols and grabbed her rifle.

"Guess we're ready to go then?" Joan said.

"Yeah, lets get out of here, I'm already sick of Primm. And we still gotta check out that big vehicle under the overpass." Ashley said.

They checked their gear one last time and then went back outside, walking the way they came and under the overpass, where they found the big vehicle intact, complete with gun turret.

"Looks military." Joan said while Ashley was browsing through files on her PipBoy.

"Yeah, it is, US Army designation M5, armored personnel carrier. It's an armed troop carrier. I wonder if there's something inside." Ashley said after finding the right file.

They walked closer and stopped at the hatch that was on the rear of the vehicle.

"Seems locked, what now?" Joan asked.

"Well, now we open it. Look for a button or lever or something." Ashley said and started to examine the back of the APC.

"How about this one?" Joan said and pulled a small lever at the side of the hatch, which snapped open a few inches.

"Guess it was the right one." Ashley chuckled and pulled down the hatch. Inside were four skeletons, half sitting on the benches, still dressed in their uniforms and surrounded by their weapons. They all had their sidearms close to their hands and there was blood on the walls.

"Hmm, looks like those guys were trapped in here and committed suicide." Ashley said after looking inside.

"Horrible." Joan stated.

"Yeah, for them, not for us, they got a lot of high-grade gear, that'll come in handy, lets check what we have." Ashley said and climbed into the vehicle, Joan followed.

"I'm taking this one for sure. It looks different from the usual laser rifles you see. Know what it is?" Joan said and held up a laser rifle.

"Whoa, that's an AER14, that's top of the line, I only saw a prototype so far, does it work?" Ashley asked.

Joan held the rifle out the back and shot a few times. "Guess it works." She said.

"Great, keep it. I'm keeping this one." Ashley said and held up an assault rifle.

"Looks a lot like the NCR service rifles, but somehow….more modern, I don't know." Joan said.

"Yeah, same type of weapon, M-Series, but this one is high quality pre-war military production, NCR probably uses wasteland junk. Let's see if it's still good." Ashley said and flicked the safety off, then she fired a burst out of the vehicle. "Awesome, works. What else do we have?" She asked.

Well we got a big ass machinegun, a sniper rifle, four pistols and a few grenades. And of course a lot of ammo.

Ashley took the sniper rifle and tried to pull the charging handle, which didn't work.

"Rusted, we cant use that, we also don't need the machine gun, too heavy. Let's get all the ammo and the grenades. Oh, and we should take their combat armor. That pre-war stuff is awesome, light, flexible and more stopping power than the stuff we use nowadays." Ashley said.

They took a few minutes to get everything in order, then they stepped out of the vehicle, both now wearing military combat armor and carrying new weapons. Ashley also handed a combat helmet to Joan.

"You can clip it to your belt, never know when you need a helmet." She said.

"Alright, thanks. Now we should be going, it's getting late." Joan said.

They left the vehicle behind and walked in the direction of Mojave Outpost to find a place to sleep for the night.

"What the fuck is that?" Ashley said after a few minutes walking, pointing ahead.

"That's the ranger unification memorial, symbolizes the unification of the area's ranger groups under the NCR or something. But also symbolizes Mojave Outpost, it's right behind that." Joan said

"Memorial? More like waste of metal, but okay, lets get up there, it's getting dark." Ashley said.

They walked up the road between numbers of cars and trucks until they finally passed the memorial and entered Mojave Outpost.


	11. Chapter 11

**And here I am again. Thanks for the reviews! I'm trying my best with the text, english isn't my first language so I might never get it perfect, but I do think it's fairly readable.**

**Anyway, enjoy chapter 11!**

* * *

„That's some outpost." Was Ashleys comment as they entered Mojave Outpost, which was only two buildings surrounded by chain-link fence.

"Yeah, it's not too big, but heavily frequented, since it's the border post between California and the Mojave." Joan replied as they walked through the gate in the fence and entered the first building, which consisted of a lot of desks

They approached the large counter with a soldier behind it.

"Hello, I'm Major Knight, can I help you with something?" The soldier asked them.

"Actually yes, we need a place to sleep for the night." Joan said.

"Then you're in the wrong building, food and shelter are managed by Lacey in the barracks next door. This is administration." Knight said.

"Alright, but we also need someone who can check our weapons out and do repairs if necessary. I have basic knowledge about weapon maintenance, but I can't compete with trained professionals if it comes to that." Ashley said.

"That's more like it, I'm the person you're looking for. Since you're planning to stay overnight anyway, you can leave your gear with me and get it back in the morning. Repairs are not for free tho." Knight said.

"Of course not, we're good on caps so that shouldn't be much of a problem." Ashley said.

"Good then, what weapons are we talking about? I see you got quite an arsenal." Knight said, looking at all the weapons Ashley had strapped to her body.

"Of course, yeah. We got three pistols, a forty-five, a nine and a ten, a ten mil SMG, a laser pistol and a laser rifle, a 12 gauge, a forty-four lever-action and a five-five-six assault rifle. " Ashley said while they both placed their weapons on the counter.

Knight whistled and checked all the weapons briefly, unloading them and handing the ammo back to Joan and Ashley.

"Don't need the ammo for repairs. They all look rather good, I will be done by morning, you can pick 'em up then." Knight said.

Ashley and Joan thanked him and went back outside, where it was dark already. They walked around the administration building and entered the barracks, which greeted them much friendlier, with the smell of food, alcohol and cigarettes.

The bar wasn't really frequented, there were just the bartender cleaning glasses and a woman drinking whiskey. They sat down next to her and the bartender walked over.

"Well I'll be damned, new faces, finally! I'm Lacey, what can I get you?" Lacey asked.

"A water for me." Joan said

"Whiskey, and we also need a place to sleep for the night." Ashley said.

"Okay, that's 8 caps each. We have a few spare beds, too, they're 20 caps a night per person." Lacey said and gave them their drinks.

"Sounds good, we'll take it." Ashley said and handed Lacey the right amount of caps.

"Good lord Cass, another one? That was your third already!" Lacey said to the unknown woman who had just waved her empty bottle towards her, apparently her way of ordering a new one.

"I'm not paying you to lecture me Lacey, now just give me another bottle, will ya?" The woman responded.

"Nope, that's enough for a day, sober up." Lacey simply answered and went back to cleaning glasses.

The woman grumbled and turned to Ashley.

"Twenty caps for your whiskey!" She said.

"What?" Ashley laughed.

"You heard me, I give you twenty caps for that whiskey!" She repeated.

"I don't think so, you look like you got enough already. That much alcohol will eventually kill you." Ashley said.

"And so will travelling the wasteland with a caravan and I can't do that anymore, so I only have whiskey to kill myself, come on, just give it to me!" She said.

"Ah, so drowning sorrows it is, huh? I'm Ashley by the way, this is Joan." Ashley said and pointed to Joan, who nodded towards the woman.

"I'm Cass, and yes, drowning sorrows it is." Cass said.

"So what happened? And what kind of name is Cass?" Ashley asked.

"Actually it is Rose of Sharon Cassidy, but I prefer Cass." Cass said with a slightly annoyed look.

"I can see why. Now, what happened that you try to drown yourself in whiskey?" Ashley asked again.

"Lost my caravan to some raider bastards, it's completely destroyed. Got word of it two days ago, I was stuck here so I couldn't help them, now I got nothing but the stuff I have on me. And pretty soon I will have to sell my clothes to buy food." Cass said.

"Offering me twenty caps for half a glass of whiskey won't help your cause, you know?" Ashley said.

"No shit, I don't have anything else to do and no other place to go, so I drink." Cass said, frowning.

"You could come with us." Joan suddenly said. Both Ashley and Cass looked at her in surprise.

"Seriously? What makes you think I'd come with you?" Cass asked.

"You obviously don't like it here and I had the impression that traveling the wasteland is something you enjoy. So you could get out of here and we'd have someone that knows the region. It's a win-win situation." Joan said.

"Where are you going anyway?" Cass asked.

"No specific destination, we're trying to find someone, so we're following all the clues we get." Joan said.

"Hmm, it'd certainly be nice to get out of here…" Cass said, thinking.

"Before you make any decisions, let me intervene. What can you bring to the group, besides your knowledge of the wasteland? That is nice for sure, but it doesn't help in combat." Ashley said.

"I'm good with shotguns and pistols, guns in general, but I also pack a punch in hand to hand combat." Cass said.

"Works for me, the more the merrier, I can't think of a reason why you couldn't come with us. One condition tho…" Ashley said.

"Oh great, conditions!" Joan said sarcastically, which earned her a glare from Ashley.

"Yes, conditions! Don't get drunk when we're out." Ashley said.

"No problem, I'm not addicted or something. But if we happen to get to Vegas, you can't stop me from getting hammered." Cass said.

"Alright. Oh and I won't take you along with that two hit wonder you got on your back." Ashley said and pointed at the double barreled shotgun slung on Cass' back.

"Well it's all I have, that and my combat knife. And I don't have the caps to get a better one!" Cass defended herself.

"Relax, I got you covered, but we'll talk about that tomorrow morning, now I need sleep. " Ashley said and walked over to her bed for the night.

"Is she always like that?" Cass asked Joan.

"Like what?" Joan asked.

"So…bossy." Cass said, which caused Joan to giggle.

"No, just sometimes. I only know her two days myself, but I think she's actually pretty nice under that rough surface." Joan said, looking over at Ashley who was in the process of getting her armor off. "And she's a total badass if it comes to fighting." She added.

"Now that you mention it, what does she mean by I got you covered, is she gonna buy me a weapon?" Cass asked.

"I have no idea, guess we'll find out in the morning." Joan said, shrugging.

"Guess we should also go to bed, huh?" Cass said after a little while.

"Yep, I was just about to do that. See you in the morning, nice to have you with us." Joan said and hugged Cass, much to her surprise.

"Well umm, yeah, goodnight." Cass said, obviously a little uncomfortable.

When Joan woke up in the morning, Ashley was already out of bed and sitting at the bar, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Morning, lazy-ass! Finally up?" Was Ashleys first comment.

"What do you mean finally? It's 7 am for god's sake, you really need to lighten up a little." Joan answered, moving out of bed and over to the bar as well, ordering some cereal for herself.

"We need to start early if we want to catch up with our target." Ashley said.

"Okay okay, you're right!" Joan said, rolling her eyes.

"After breakfast we get our weapons. Where's Cass?" Ashley said.

"She's right here." Came the answer from Cass, who just walked over to them with messy hair and an expression that practically screamed hangover.

"You look hung over." Ashley said.

"I'm fine, just need a good breakfast." Cass answered.

"Good, you do that and meet us outside, we're gonna get our gear in the meantime." Joan said.

After they finished their cereal, Ashley and Joan quickly put on their armor and went into the next building to Major Knight.

"Ah, the heavily armed travellers, good morning." Knight said as they entered.

"Morning, how's it looking Major?" Ashley said.

"Most of your weapons were in pristine condition. But the SMG and the nine millimeter needed some new parts, they were pretty worn out. I cleaned everything and changed the necessary parts. That's a 100 caps total." Knight said as he was putting the weapons on the counter.

"Alright, here you go. Thanks for the work." Ashley said and counted the caps out.

"I also got a little offer for you." Knight said after taking the caps.

"What kind of offer?" Ashley asked.

"Your assault rifle there, it's a pre-war model, those are very rare. I got a box full of attachments that are made for this kind of weapon. They don't fit to our rifles so we can't use them, so I figured you may want to buy some of it." Knight said.

"Sounds interesting, what kind of attachments are we talking about?" Ashley asked.

"Various flashlights, laser sights, optics, forward grips in all shapes, silencers and even a grenade launcher." Knight said.

"A grenade launcher?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, forty millimeter, single shot, reloadable. Handles like your common grenade rifle, just that it's mounted under your rifle barrel."

"Sounds good, I take it. I also take a light and a silencer. I don't have time to zero in new optics, so I'll stay with my iron sights. I'd also like two boxes of shotgun ammo and a box of .357 rounds. How much is that all?" Ashley said.

"Totals in at another 200 caps. I also put in two grenades for the launcher, can't spare more." Knight said.

Once again, Ashley counted out the needed caps and Knight installed the purchased modifications. When he was finished he handed the rifle to Ashley and put the purchased ammo on the counter along with two 40 millimeter grenades.

Ashley quickly familiarized herself with the grenade launcher and loaded one of her grenades in it.

"The Flashlight needs power. You put in a single cell from a standard laser pistol clip, but the one that's in there shouldn't get empty in this lifetime." Knight explained.

After that Ashley and Joan took a minute to load and holster all their weapons and then went back outside where they met Cass, who was now wearing a brown leather jacket and a cowboy hat.

"There you are, thought you left without me." She said.

"Wouldn't do that." Joan said with a grin.

"Here, yours." Ashley said and handed her recently acquired shotgun to Cass, who took it with a smirk.

"Nice piece, thanks!" Cass said, admiring the weapon.

"Don't mention it, I already got two rifles and Joan isn't really a gun type, she prefers lasers. Here, take the ammo and oh, almost forgot, you might need a pistol, too." Ashley said and handed Cass the revolver she took from the convict leader along with the entire shotgun and .357 ammo.

"Thanks, I think now I'm combat effective. I already sold my old double barrel to Lacey Where are we headed now?" Cass said and put the revolver into her belt.

"Nipton is next, although we just move through there, didn't plan on staying. Novac is the next real lead." Ashley said.

"Nipton, huh? Ranger Ghost told me she saw smoke rising from there, but didn't know what it was about." Cass said.

"When was that?" Joan asked.

"Just yesterday afternoon. It really doesn't have to mean anything, could be a giant bonfire or something, but we should be careful." Cass said.

"We will, thanks for the info, now let's head out, I wanna make good time today, maybe reach Novac before nightfall." Ashley said and already started walking.

Joan and Cass quickly catched up and they left Mojave Outpost towards Nipton, where they still saw smoke rising.

"Guess it's not a bonfire, huh?" Cass said.

"Yeah, that much smoke can't be a good sign. Maybe we should go around it?" Joan said.

"We shouldn't go off the road if we can avoid it and Nipton is the fastest way to Novac, we're going through, even if it means guns blazing." Ashley said and chambered her rifle.


	12. Chapter 12

**So much for my plans of going back to the original update-cycle. :P I Know it's been too long, but here you go with chapter 12, I made this one extra long for you all, enjoy!**

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As they approached Nipton, they got more careful with each step, the smell of the burning houses lingering in the air.

"Hold up, someone's coming!" Ashley suddenly said and kneeled down, bringing her rifle up, aligning the sights.

Joan and Cass both followed her aim, getting ready to fight as well.

"What the fuck? Is he….bouncing?" Cass asked.

"Looks that way." Was Joan's response.

As the man came closer, they heard that he was chanting something over and over again.

"Who won the lottery? I won the lottery!" He said again and again, stopping as he was about ten meters from the weapons that were pointed at him and everybody just stared at each other.

"Umm…what lottery?" Joan asked suddenly.

"What lottery? THE fucking lottery! What are you, stupid? Fuck it, I'm outta here, I won the fucking lottery!" he yelled and bounced away.

"That was possibly the weirdest thing I ever encountered….and I saw a lot of things." Ashley said, still staring after the strange man.

"Yeah, but why doesn't this give me a better feeling about this town?" Joan said.

"Maybe because it's burning and apparently driving people mad?" Cass said. They shared a quick laugh and continued towards the town.

They entered Nipton and walked through the streets, Cass on point with her shotgun, Ashley and Joan checking alleys and corners. Until Ashley suddenly bumped into Cass, who stopped.

"What the hell'd you stop for?" She asked.

"This." Cass simply said and pointed ahead. Ashley looked and frowned, while Joan gasped and looked away as they saw a man nailed to a cross, still squirming.

"What the fuck happened here?" Ashley whispered to nobody in particular.

"That's got Legion written all over it." Cass said.

They were pulled out of their awe as they heard dogs barking. They turned towards the corner of a house in front of them and saw several vicious looking dogs charging towards them.

"Holy shit!" Joan managed to yell before they all opened fire, blasting the group of dogs with guns and lasers.

"Reload!" Ashley yelled as the dogs were dead and she saw Joan just standing there, weapon lowered and smoking.

"What? The dogs are dead!" Joan said, a puzzled look on her face.

"She's right, dogs didn't nail those poor bastards to a cross, there's more to this." Cass said as she put new rounds into the tube of her shotgun.

"Please, lower your weapons, we will not harm you!" Came a loud voice from behind the house.

"Your dogs seemed to think otherwise!" Ashley yelled back.

"We thought you were another one of those degenerates that used to live here, sorry about that. Please, come over and let me explain." The voice said again.

"Alright I'm coming, but I won't lower my weapon!" Ashley yelled.

"What are you, crazy? You can't go over there!" Joan said, grabbing Ashley's arm.

"I can and I will, you stay back and be ready to fight, if something happens to me, blow them to pieces!" Ashley said and walked towards the corner of the house, assault rifle at the ready.

Joan and Cass kept her weapons up and watched Ashley slowly round the corner.

"She went totally mental on us, absolutely insane!" Cass concluded silently.

"I trust her judgment; I think everything will be alright." Joan said.

They waited about a minute until they suddenly heard automatic fire from where Ashley went. They rushed towards the corner and just as they reached it, Ashley came walking backwards, firing full auto on whoever was on the other side. Before they could get closer or say anything to her, they heard a much louder shot ring out, followed by Ashley's painful groan and her dropping to the ground, not moving.

"Fuck!" Cass screamed out, grabbing the collar of Ashley's vest and dragging her back into cover while Joan stood there, stunned.

"Will you shoot already?" Cass screamed at her, snapping her out of her stupor.

"What the hell hit her, is she alright?" Joan yelled as she stuck her laser rifle around the corner and fired blindly.

"I don't know! She's not conscious, that's all I can tell right now. We need to get rid of these assholes first!" Cass yelled, leaving Ashley on the ground and rushed over to Joan, who stopped firing.

"I don't hear anything. But that sounded like a big ass rifle!" Joan said.

"Probably a sniper in one of the houses." Cass said and picked up Ashleys assault rifle.

"What do we do? Shit, shit, shit…Ashley'd know what to do!" Joan said.

"She's out of it, we need to do this ourselves. I got an idea. See that house on the other side of the street?" Cass said.

"Yeah, what about it?" Joan asked skeptically.

"I want you to haul ass over the street and take cover behind it, the sniper will fire on you and I can see where he is and smoke him." Cass said.

"Are you mad? I certainly won't let him shoot me!" Joan said.

"It's our only chance, besides he won't hit you if you run!" Cass said angrily.

"Alright, alright, if this doesn't work, I'll kill you personally!" Joan said and got ready.

"Ready?"

"No."

"Go!"

Joan started running and immediately got shot at, sprinting over the street, bullets impacting all around her feet.

"God…I hope this works..." Cass said as she turned around the corner and looked for the sniper. As she saw his muzzle flash, she brought Ashley's assault rifle to what she thought was the right angle and fired the grenade launcher. She didn't exactly hit the window, but the grenade impacted in the wall slightly under it. She didn't see if she killed the sniper, but his rifle went flying out the remains of the window, which was enough for her.

"I got him, you can come back!" She yelled to Joan, who was leaning against the side of the house and panting, giving her a thumb up. Cass kept watching the area as Joan jogged back to her. They went back around the corner and stopped as they saw Ashley sitting against a wall, fumbling at her armor.

"What the hell?" Cass said, but Joan already started running and threw herself at Ashley, crushing her in a tight hug.

"My god you're alive!" She yelled.

"Hug…not…really…helping!" Ashley just managed to gasp.

Joan pulled away a bit, looked at Ashley, who grinned, and suddenly kissed her.

"Wow, I didn't expect that just now." Cass said as she watched the scene in front of her.

Joan recoiled away from Ashley and blushed bright red, she turned around and walked away a few meters, leaving a wide-eyed and open-mouthed Ashley, who was now joined by Cass.

"You alright?" She asked.

Ashley didn't respond, she even seemed to have stopped breathing.

"HEY!" Cass yelled, which caused Ashley to wince and look at her.

"Yeah, sorry, just a tad confused. That bullet just completely knocked the wind out of me and it hurts like hell. Probably some cracked ribs. But at least we know that this armor can withstand a .308. Gonna be a hell of a bruise tho." Ashley said and held up a crushed bullet.

"And what was that with Joan?" Cass asked.

"Don't know, guess I'm gonna go find out. Can you, um, help me up?" Ashley said, slightly embarrassed.

"Sure." Cass said and pulled Ashley to her feet, who groaned in pain.

"Ow fuck! The next few days are gonna be a pain in the ass….or pain in the chest." Ashley muttered and carefully made her way over to Joan, who looked back towards Mojave Outpost.

"Hey, you alright?" Ashley asked as she stood next to Joan, looking over at her.

"Me? What are you? Stupid? You just got shot and ask me if I'm alright?" Joan burst out. Waving her hands in frustration.

"Whoa! Calm down there! You just seemed a little off so I asked." Ashley responded.

Joan closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, I'm just a little on edge after all this." She said and waved her hands at the smoldering remains of Nipton. "How are you?"

Ashley chuckled. "So nice of you to ask, not like I been shot or anything." She said in a joking tone, which caused Joan to blush.

"God I'm so stupid, sorry! How could I forget to ask how you are?" Joan said, squirming.

"Cause you're dimwit." Ashley joked. "But really I'm fine, just a little bruised up and sore. That armor actually works pretty good. Never seen anything other than power armor or reinforced combat armor stop a .308 from such a relative small distance."

"Well it's bad enough, don't you ever do that again!" Joan said sternly.

"But then we have to stay here cause getting shot is kinda inevitable in the wastes. And I don't like it here, it smells bad." Ashley said, quite amused.

"Jokes, really?" Joan said and raised an eyebrow, which caused Ashley to laugh heartily…and immediately wince from the pain in her chest.

"Gnah! Fuck! Remind me not to laugh the next few days!" Ashley said, holding her chest. "But now onto another topic….are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room?"

"What's an eleph… never mind, I don't wanna know! What do you mean?" Joan asked, avoiding Ashley's glance.

"It's not that I mind it, your lips taste rather good to be honest. I'm just wondering what brought that on." Ashley said in a normal tone.

Joan, obviously uncomfortable, squirmed and looked away, Ashley could practically see the wheels in her head turning.

"Alright, no sense talking around I guess, so I'll just say it. I'm attracted to you Ashley…a lot, there's just something on you that's so damn intriguing. Besides, you totally kick ass. And speaking of asses, you got a fine one at that, too." Joan babbled out, apparently wanting to get it out before the courage left her.

Ashley chuckled at the last comment and pulled the redhead in for a hug.

"it's alright, things like that tend to happen out here, the wasteland's got a certain romance on it. And I can't say I'm not attracted to you…on the contrary…" Ashley said and Joan smiled.

"….but…." Ashley continued. "we can't let it happen."

"Why not?" Joan asked, louder than she intended to.

"Because I have experience with this. It happened to me before and I let it. In the end it got me in a lot of trouble because if you get involved with someone you travel and fight with, you lose a lot of combat efficiency. You lose the ability to think objectively if it comes to the point where your partner is in danger. You wouldn't be able to, for example, leave me behind to carry out the mission." Ashley explained calmly.

"This is bullshit and you know it! It doesn't make any difference if you share my feelings, they are there! Being "involved" or not, I'm already at that point!" Joan said angrily.

"I am not discussing this!" Ashley said calm but clearly, causing Joan to stop and just glare at her.

"You'll get over it." Ashley said as she turned and walked back towards Cass, who had been watching them.

"Wow, Miss courier looks unpleased. What'd you say to her? That you have a boyfriend?" Cass said jokingly.

"No, just that she has to suppress her feelings for me if she doesn't wanna die out here and that I'm surely not getting involved with someone I "work" with." Ashley said coldly and took her rifle from Cass.

"Ouch." Was all Cass said.

Joan rejoined them a little later with an angry glare towards Ashley and obvious signs of tears on her face. She picked up her gear in silence.

"Great, gotta love some good old silent hatred." Cass sighed.

"You think there are more of these assholes in the city hall?" Ashley asked, completely ignoring Cass statement and checking her rifle.

"I doubt that the sniper was alone in there, so yeah. Wanna take them out?" Cass said, watching Ashley checking and loading her weapon like a pro.

"You bet, nobody shoots at me without getting payback." Ashley said grimly.

"Good I'm in, the more Legion bastards we kill, the less will be left to pull off crap throughout the Mojave." Cass said, racking the charging handle of her shotgun.

"And I'm not asked?" An angry Joan said next to them.

"It would be two to one in a vote anyway." Ashley simply said.

"Good to know that my opinion is worth so much around her. And for the record, I'm in too." Joan said, causing both Ashley and Cass to look at her in surprise.

"What? The fact that you're a mean bitch doesn't make my feelings go away. Hell, I'll prove to you that you're worrying about absolutely nothing. I thought our last few encounters with bad guys made it clear that I can handle myself in combat, which it apparently didn't, but I will change that!" Joan said confidently and smacked the locked charging handle of her SMG back in place.

"That's the spirit! Now come on, we have to kick some Legion ass." Ashley said with a grin and started leading the group towards Nipton's town hall.

Cass gave Joan a smile and a pat on the shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Keep it up, she'll come around."

The all walked through the street cautiously, keeping their weapons pointed towards the town hall.

When they reached it, Ashley humorlessly kicked in the front door and immediately started shooting her rifle at chest level, expecting a sentry after the previous. The bodies dropping to the ground behind a makeshift barrier proved her right and they entered.

"Two down, hopefully more to go. Cass, you take point, your scattergun is better fitted for this environment." She said grimly.

Cass nodded and went ahead. They went from room to room, Ashley and Joan providing cover in the hallway while Cass entered the rooms and swept them with her shotgun. But she didn't have to fire it; they didn't come across anymore Legionaries on the first floor.

"Figures for the cowards to hide upstairs, doesn't it?" Joan asked.

"Yeah, it is the tactically better position tho, so we have to be careful." Ashley said as they closed in on a stairway. Ashley, not taking any chances this time, pulled the pin from a frag grenade and crept up the stairs slowly, releasing the spring when she neared the corner and tossing the deadly device around it.

They heard panicked "GRENADE!" yells upstairs, followed by the explosion of the grenade and painful screams that faded quickly.

Ashley turned around the corner and headed up, looking at her work, three dead Legionaries, all covered with lots of shrapnel.

"Whew, prewar military sure knew how to make grenades, huh?" Joan asked as she followed along with Cass, who whistled in acknowledgement.

"Sure looks that way." Ashley agreed. "Let's not waste time and clear the floor, Joan you cover the stairs, don't let anything up or down." She added.

"Alright." Joan said and took a position to overlook both staircases as Ashley and Cass walked off to clean the other rooms.

"Clear." Cass said after she checked the last room on the floor, having found no more enemies again.

"Hmm, okay, either there aren't any left or they are all upstairs." Ashley said.

"Let's hope it's the former, shall we?" Joan asked from the stairs.

"Yeah, let's get it over with and head up." Cass said and started walking up.

"Wait, I go first." Ashley said.

"You've been hit once already." Cass said skeptically.

"Yeah but you don't have any armor." Joan said.

Cass looked down and sighed. "Right…okay, lead the way."

Ashley slowly walked up the stairs and peeked around the corner, giving a thumb up to her companions and moving further up, Cass right behind her. As soon as they reached the top, multiple Legionaries opened up on them. Ashley got hit several times and went down immediately, while Cass jumped into a hallway to the right and Joan dove back down the stairs.

"Fuck!" Cass yelled out as she took cover from the hail of gunfire.

"Ashley? ASHLEY? Cass, how is she?" Joan yelled from the stairs.

"I don't know, she's been hit!" Cass yelled back.

"Throw out your weapons and we will not shoot at you!" One of the Legionaries said loudly.

"Ya right!" Came the raspy response from Ashley on the floor.

"You are in no condition to talk up to me like this. You're lucky if we use you and your friends only for some entertainment and don't kill you!" The Legionary said again, causing Joan and Cass to shudder while Ashley stayed calm despite her situation. Cass watcher her move her hands, apparently reaching for her pistol.

Suddenly, Ashley tossd a grenade towards the Legionaries. They panicked and Ashley used the confusion to draw her pistol and shoot the only one of them with a clear line of fire on her, then she quickly rolled behind cover, fumbling for her first aid kit.

"She didn't even pull the pin you stupid idiots!" Came the voice of the Legionary again and Cass had trouble containing her laughter.

Ashley nodded towards Cass to show she was alright but her grin quickly faded as she saw the grenade fly right back and down the stairs, now probably without the pin.

"JOAN!" She yelled out and was in awe, as the grenade suddenly flew back once again, exploding mid-air and sending shrapnel in all directions.

Cass was the first to shake the shock and moved around the corner, blasting twice with her shotgun, killing the last Legionaries that were standing. She gave the all clear and Joan rushed up to Ashley, who grinned at her.

"You can kiss me again…but help me patch the wounds first, okay?" She said.

Joan gave her a half-hearted slap at the shoulder and started examining Ashley.

"Looks like the armor once again took most of the beating." She concluded.

"I figured, but where does this blood come from?" Ashley said, holding up her blood soaked hand.

Joan gasped. "From your arm, you've been hit, oh god!"

"Calm down, go watch the wounded fuckers over there, I'll patch her up." Cass said as she walked up, kneeling down and taking a stimpak out, firmly injecting it right above Ashley's wound

"Argh! Son of a…! Can't you be more sensitive?" Ashley said annoyed.

"Nope, has to be done." Cass simply said and injected Ashley with some Med-X before tightly putting a bandage over the wound.

"There finished. And you should really thank whoever made that armor of yours." Cass said as she stood up.

"Yeah well, might need a new one now." Ashley said as she tugged at the torn fabric over her Kevlar.

Cass chuckled and helped Ashley up, who groaned a bit.

"You know, it still hurts, but the .308 sure was worse." She said and chuckled.

They laughed and walked over to Joan, who was guarding two wounded Legionaries, one of them their leader.

"Oh, so nice to meet you again…what was it? Vulpes Inculta?" Ashley said as she looked down at him.

He glared up and said nothing.

"Well whatever, good riddance!" Ashley said before she shot him coldly, then turning and doing the same to the other Legionary that was still alive. Joan slightly winced at the shots, still not entirely used to the coldness of Ashley's killings.

"Are you okay?" Joan finally asked Ashley, who nodded and gave her a grin.

"Had worse! And now that this is done, let's loot the place and get the fuck out. Oh and by the way, nice move with the grenade!" Ashley said and patted Joan's shoulders.

They went through the building and took all the caps, ammo, medical supplies, food and even weapons they could carry from the Legion and left Nipton Hall.

"Well whadda you know, the smell out here is actually worse than the smell inside and that's saying a lot." Cass joked, lightening the mood with a few laughs before they went back on their way towards Novac.

"Yeah and also, so much for staying on the road is safer." Ashley grumbled and rubbed her shoulder, causing Cass and Joan to laugh again.


	13. Chapter 13

Here's the next one, thanks for the reviews!

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"You know, I'm getting really tired of walking." Joan complained as they followed the road east.

"Are you kidding me? You're a goddamn courier; you should be used to walking." Cass said.

"Yeah, just not so much at once. I never had a tight delivery schedule, so I made plenty of breaks." Joan said.

"In other words, you're lazy." Ashley threw in from the front.

"No, I'm not, I just don't like walking till I collapse from exhaustion or my feet fall off." Joan responded snippily.

"We been making breaks every night." Ashley said.

"Yeah, I know. And in between we were either walking or got shot at, not really my idea of having a pleasant day." Joan said.

"Hey, you want that package back, if we make more breaks we might lose the guy, if we haven't already." Ashley said.

"Alright, but can we make a longer stop after we found our next lead?" Joan asked hopefully.

"Depending on the lead, but if we find out time's not a factor, we can rest up in Novac, supposing it's safe." Ashley said.

"Agreed on that one." Cass said.

"Alright, I can live with that." Joan said considerably more cheerful now.

"Building ahead." Ashley called out and stopped, taking out her binoculars.

"It's some sort of ranch, looks deserted." Ashley said after a few moments.

"Rest stop?" Joan asked.

"No, it's way too early to rest, we'd be wasting time. We'll check it for loot and keep going." Ashley said.

"Alright." Joan sighed.

They carefully approached the abandoned ranch and found out that it was indeed deserted. Cass and Joan went inside and searched the building while Ashley stayed outside standing guard.

"Mostly junk, I only found a few 5.56 rounds, the only useful thing in this wreck. The Varmint rifle that went with them was a piece of crap." Cass said as they went back outside.

"Figured as much, place like this doesn't stay unlooted for long. Whoever was here before us apparently had no need for the ammo and the rifle. Let's keep moving, I saw a trailer among some car wrecks maybe two hundred meters east of here, down the road, that's where we go next." Ashley said and put down her binoculars as Cass and Joan came out.

"Okay, let's go then." Cass said and handed the found ammo to Ashley, who was the only one able to use it.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the trailer and they saw a fire burning out front. Ashley immediately motioned for Joan and Cass to be quiet and get down.

They sneaked up and crouched behind the wrecked cars in front of the trailer, observing it. Seeing three Legionaries.

"Legion." Ashley whispered to Joan and Cass.

"Take 'em out?" Cass asked.

"Of course." Joan said confidently, causing Ashley and Cass to grin and nod.

"Okay, plan? Just shoot the first one and wait till the rest comes out?" Cass asked.

"No, I have an idea, you two just watch and get ready to shoot them when they come out." Ashley said and went through her pockets. Taking out the bullets they found earlier and a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" Joan asked as she watched.

"Homemade flashbangs." Ashley said with a grin as she ripped the paper into equally sized pieces and placed them on the ground. She then took the bullets out of the rifle rounds and poured the contents of the cartridges on the paper. After that she rolled the paper tightly and tugged at the sleeve of her shirt, loosening some threads and pulling them out, using them to bind the papers so they wouldn't unroll.

"Now watch and learn kids." She said as she took out her lighter, lit up the papers and tossed them over the wreck behind the trailer, where they went up with a series of bangs, sounding a lot like gunfire.

The Legionaries in the trailer jumped up in surprise, grabbed their weapons and rushed out, where they were met with fire from the girls that had just waited for them, killing them quickly and effectively.

"Let me just say, that this was absolutely awesome." Cass said with a chuckle as they went over to the trailer.

"Yeah, that was awfully cool. Where'd you learn that?" Joan said.

"Picked it up a while ago back home. Very useful little things. And what's best about them; they give you a proper use for stray bullets you pick up. And it's a lot cheaper than using a grenade for that." Ashley said as she checked the bodies of the Legionaries, picking up some stuff.

"What the hell are those?" Ashley said, holding up a few silver coins.

"Denarii, Legion currency. One Denarius is worth about four caps." Cass said.

"They have their own currency?" Ashley asked in surprise.

"Yeah, just like NCR." Joan said idly.

"Wow, seems like the east coast really got it worse after the war. People over there don't even think of a new currency, even the Enclave does all business with caps."

"Yeah, same goes for most of the wasteland and New Vegas around here. But among NCR and Legion, all trading is possible with their currency. They do accept caps tho." Cass said.

"So basically, it's totally pointless?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, you could say it like that." Joan said with a chuckle.

Ashley shook her head and went into the trailer. She found a few boxes, a first aid kit and a duffle bag. She went through all of them and reported her findings to the other two.

"We kinda hit a jackpot here. Plenty of ammo, food, medicals and a few pistols. We also got mattresses, perfect place to spend the night." She said.

"We got incoming!" Cass said from outside. Ashley stood up and rushed out, bringing her binoculars up.

"What do we have?" Joan said.

"More than ten men, looks like raiders. They're coming towards us." Ashley said.

"Get the hell out?" Cass asked.

"Too late for that, they'll see us. No, we have to fight this one." Ashley said.

"Okay, gameplan?" Joan asked.

"Take cover behind the wrecks and shoot them the fuck up. Trailer is fallback, retreat there if they get too close. But this is pretty much a last stand." Ashley said grimly and unslung her rifle.

Cass and Joan followed suit and they all took cover behind the wrecked cars.

"Let them get closer!" Ashley ordered, holding a grenade, ready to pull the pin.

"I swear I heard gunfire back here!" They heard one of the raiders say.

"There's nobody here you idiot! We're wasting time, let's get the hell out." Another said.

The girls breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit, but just until they heard another one speak.

"There's three dead guys!" He said.

'_Oh come on!' _Ashley thought and pulled the pin of the grenade, holding it with the safety pushed down. She waited a second and blindly tossed it over the wreck.

"Okay let's check it ou…GRENADE!" Another raider yelled in panic. The grenade exploded with little effect as it fell a little short and the raiders split up, trying to find cover on the open field.

"Take 'em out!" Ashley yelled and they all came up from cover and started shooting. The raiders were easy targets out in the open, but their number was a problem, they fired back and kept going.

"I'm out!" Cass yelled, dropping her shotgun and drawing her pistol, slowly moving back towards the trailer.

"Use it!" Ashley said as she tossed Joan a handgrenade. Joan nodded and pulled the pin, tossing it towards the attackers, killing one. Ashley got up and fired the last shot from her grenade launcher, killing another two raiders, wounding another.

"There's three of them flanking us from behind!" Cass yelled from the trailer, using a hunting rifle from one of the Legionaries to fight them.

"Go help her out Joan, I got this here." Ashley said and lobbed another grenade out. Joan nodded and moved back to the trailer as well, helping Cass with the flankers. After she tossed the grenade, Ashley picked her rifle back up and put in her last magazine, having only four more raiders in her sight. Two of them suddenly got hit by laser fire and bullets as Joan and Cass joined her again.

"Flanking guys are down." Joan said.

"Good, only two more to go here, let's take them and finally get some rest." Ashley said and drew her pistol. As they stood up, they saw that the remaining two had turned and were running away.

"Well how about that?" Joan said lightly.

"Good lord, we just took out a squad worth of people." Cass said.

"Yeah, combine that with all the Legion fucks we killed, I'd say it's a good days work. Plus I love the smell of cordite in the air. Did anybody take a hit?"" Ashley said.

"Nada, they couldn't shoot for shit." Cass said.

"Yeah, I'm fine too." Joan said.

"Okay. Now before we rest, first things first, weapon maintenance. Our guns saw a lot of action today, I want a deep cleaning. After that we loot the dead and see what we find. Then we can rest, but we take watches, one at a time." Ashley ordered.

They all sat down and took their weapons apart, cleaning them thoroughly.

"Is every day gonna be like this from now on?" Joan asked.

"Hopefully not, I got shot at more than enough for a while. Let's try to stay out of trouble from now on. Some things you just can't foresee tho." Ashley said.

"Agreed, let's have a quiet, peaceful trip with no gunfire." Cass said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean!" Ashley responded.

"Yeah, yeah I know. And I'm done." Cass said and pumped her shotgun which was loaded again.

"Yeah me too." Joan said and closed the cell compartment of her laser rifle, making it power up again.

"Good, let's loot some dead guys then, I'll continue refilling my mags later." Ashley said and stood up, walking towards all the dead raiders. They were going through the bodies and collected all they could find on a big pile.

"Damn, no fourty-fives again." Ashley complained.

"So what?" Joan asked.

"I'm almost out of those, only got two mags left, about 15 rounds in total." Ashley said and picked all the 5.56 and 10 millimeter ammo from the loot-pile.

"You still got your other guns, don't complain. I'm sure we'll find some ammo sooner or later." Cass said, picking up shotgun shells and filling her pockets with them.

"That's really a professional way to carry ammo you got there Cass." Ashley said as she observed Cass.

"Well what am I supposed to do? I don't have a fancy armor suit like you two do, with all those belts and pouches. And if I put the rounds in the backpack they are useless." Cass said.

"Hmm…yeah you're right. Gotta find you some bandoleers soon, didn't the raiders have anything?" Ashley said.

"They mostly just carry the essentials, a loaded gun and some extra ammo in their pockets." Cass answered, shaking her head.

"Who are they anyway?" Joan asked.

"Don't look like Fiends, so probably Jackals or Vipers. That's the three big raider tribes around the Mojave. But the Fiends mostly stay close to Vegas, most chances to score some caps if you're raider." Cass said.

"Okay, enough chit-chat. Who's got first watch?" Ashley said.

"I do." Joan said.

"Then I got second, Ash you can take the rest after that." Cass said.

"Well alright, stay alert!" Ashley said and went inside the trailer with Cass, while Joan sat down on an empty crate outside and looked out in the night. She spent the next hour trying to stay awake and idly toying at her Pip-Boy.

"Why is this thing named Pip-Boy? Why is there no Pip-Girl?" Joan said to herself.

"Passing the time with philosophic questions?" Cass asked directly behind her, causing her to jump.

"Goddamn! Don't ever sneak up on me like that!" Joan said after she squealed.

"Sorry, won't happen again." Cass said, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Can't sleep?" Joan asked.

"No, not really. Not that tired actually. Ashley's sound asleep tho, so I figured I'd come out here instead of listening to her sleep." Cass said, sitting down on the ground next to Joan.

"Nothing exciting out here either, just night and dirt. And dead bodies of course." Joan said.

"We really did a number on those guys, didn't we?" Cass chuckled.

"Could say so, yeah. What do you think how long it's gonna take to get to Novac?" Joan said.

"It's still a bit of a ways from here, depending on how much distractions we encounter, I'd say about 2 days, meaning at least one more night stop." Cass said.

"Yeah I know how long the trip would take technically. I just have this nagging feeling that we'll encounter a lot of shit on our way." Joan said.

"Gotta stay optimistic. Look at it this way, from Novac it's not that far to Vegas and there we can have a good time after all the shit." Cass said.

"If we get in." Joan said.

"You're an eternal pessimist, aren't you?" Cass asked with a chuckle.

"More realist. But I guess you're right, things have been working out so far." Joan said with a light grin.

"Good, now go to bed, my watch." Cass said and Joan went inside the trailer to finally get some sleep and Cass took her place on the crate.


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright here we go! Chapter 14 up and running.**

**Farkasember: been thinking about it. Haven't made a final decision yet tho.**

**I also took a few minutes in the New Vegas char editor and made characters that would resemble Ashley and Joan, here you go: / I believe I kinda nailed it with Ashley, she looks total badass. :P**

**Anyway here you go with the chapter:**

* * *

"Rise and shine! Time to get moving." Ashley said out loud, waking up Joan and Cass.

"Ugh….damn, can't you wake us more gently?" Joan asked sleepily.

"No, already been waiting an hour for you to wake up on your own. Since you wouldn't, I woke you." Ashley said, already dressed in full gear, her camouflage combat jacket damaged in the places she took hits the other day.

"Besides, she could've woken you way worse." Cass said with a grin as she got up and stretched.

"Exactly, now come on, get your stuff and let's move, no time to lose." Ashley said and left the trailer.

"Alright, fine!" Joan grumbled and grabbed her military combat vest.

After they were ready they all stepped out of the trailer and checked their weapons.

"What happens with all the gear we left in the trailer, ain't we taking it?" Joan asked.

"No, I'd love to sell it all, but it's too much to hump around. I'll handle it, let's go." Ashley said.

As they walked away further east, Ashley stayed back and took a grenade from her backpack. She pulled the pin and tossed it into the trailer, which burst into flames with an explosion, followed by a lot of smaller explosions when all the ammo burned.

"Incendiary grenades, really useful for burning stuff." Ashley said as she caught up with Joan and Cass.

"Who would've thought?" Cass replied sarcastically.

"I hate sarcasm." Ashley said.

"I love it." Cass simply replied.

"Don't fight, we're in enough crap as it is!" Joan said half-angry.

"We're not fighting, we're no kids." Cass said.

"Next stop is Camp Searchlight according to my map. Anyone know something about it?" Ashley said after checking her Pip-Boy.

"NCR outpost, apparently they've been having some problems there lately, at least that's what I overheard. Don't know more." Cass said, Joan simply shook her head.

"Alright, guess we will see." Ashley said and continued on.

As they got closer, Joan suddenly stopped.

"What the hell is that green cloud?" She asked.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look healthy, we should monitor our Pip-Boys, maybe find a route around it." Ashley said.

"There's NCR troopers right outside the town. I'm guessing it's safe to go there." Cass said, pointing at a tent camp ahead.

"Alright, makes it easier, let's go." Ashley said and started walking again, with Joan and Cass following close.

As they approached the small NCR encampment, the four NCR troopers there walked towards them, one of them speaking.

"Travelers, I'm afraid I have to stop you here. The area is irradiated and highly dangerous. I cannot let you get closer." Their leader said.

"Are you kidding? I got no readings what so ever, the air is fine, it's just the green tone from the cloud over the town. We don't wanna go in, we're headed towards Novac. Now get out of our way!" Ashley said.

"I don't care, I can't let you pass. And I don't like your tone civilian; I'm a first sergeant with the NCR army, I have the right to keep you here. Now I'm afraid I have to ask you to hand over your weapons." The first sergeant said.

Ashley looked back and forth between Cass and Joan with an amused expression, trying to hold back a grin.

"And what makes you think I will just hand over my gear?" Ashley said, her hand getting closer to the pistol in her holster.

"As I said, I'm a sergeant with…" He started.

"With the NCR army army, yeah yeah I know. And I don't care if you're a fucking general, I'm going through that town if you like it or not." Ashley said in a more serious tone.

"Alright, that's enough, hand over your weapons, right now!" the sergeant said again, the troopers behind him growing anxious.

"Okay, I believe I warned you." Ashley just said before she reached for her pistol.

In one swift motion, Ashley unholstered her gun and put a double tap into the sergeants chest at point blank range. Using the element of surprise she got, she also shot two of the three troopers. The third of them, who was about to fire at Ashley with his rifle, got a shotgun blast to the face from Cass.

"Jesus Christ Ashley! What the hell is wrong with you?" Joan yelled in shock.

"Nobody is arresting me, they were asking for it, it's as easy as that." Ashley responded.

"There wouldn't have been any damn problem if you hadn't been such an asshole." Joan kept yelling.

"Hey, they tried to stop and arrest us, just for planning to go through the fucking town. Now stuff that shit or I'm heading back to where I came and you can see how you get along!" Ashley said.

"Why don't you both shut up so we can think about what to do now? We just made a powerful enemy." Cass interrupted.

"No we haven't. It was just those four guys, nobody knows. They got killed, period. Nobody knows we did it." Ashley said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah, right…haven't looked at it that way." Cass said, adjusting her hat.

"Excuse me, could we get back to the fact that we're randomly killing people who haven't done anything to us?" Joan said.

"Haven't done anything to us? They were going to ARREST us for crying out loud! What do you think would've happened next? They would've just thrown us into some jail for whatever bullshit reason. And then it's bye bye package." Ashley responded, firm but calm.

Joan visibly relaxed and nodded. "Okay, guess you're right. Still, I don't like the way you tend to handle things, not at all." She said.

"You can't sugarcoat the wasteland. Get used to it, especially with me." Ashley said.

"She's right you know. You can't talk your way out of every situation. And that was surely no talking situation." Cass said, who was already in the business of looting the bodies, taking the bandoleers from the sergeant to use them for herself.

Ashley joined her, with Joan just watching.

"Okay, what have we got?" Ashley asked.

"The usual, typical NCR service rifles and some ammo. And of course some basic medical supplies. Once we're at it I suggest checking the tents, too." Cass said as they went through the gear of the troopers.

"Of course, we should take everything we can." Ashley said.

"Shouldn't we take the rifles, too? I mean…we could sell them, right?" Joan said.

"Theoretically, yeah. But it's kinda suspicious if some strangers walk up to a trader with four NCR rifles in good condition. Maybe we should take one and some other stuff, make it less obvious." Cass said.

"Good point, hadn't thought of that." Joan said.

"Guys, I think first we should focus on the problem at hand." Ashley said, pointing towards the town.

As Joan and Cass followed Ashley's point, they saw what she meant. A couple of ghouls making their way towards them.

"Well I'll be damned. Looks like the area actually is kinda dangerous." Cass said.

"Little too late to think about that now, ain't it?" Joan said, shouldered her laser rifle and began firing at the ghouls. Ashley brought her rifle up and fired as well. They quickly dropped three ghouls, the rest of them picking up the speed and running towards. As they came in range, Cass started firing her shotgun and cut them down easily.

"Ghouls are never much of a danger. I wonder why they left the town, it must be paradise for them with all that radiation." Ashley said.

"Guess we'll never know. I wanna get out of here now, is that possible?" Joan said.

"Yeah, let's loot the NCR tents and keep going." Ashley said and walked to the tents.

They shuffled through crates and duffle bags inside the tents and dug up more ammo, food and medical supplies.

"Ammo, Med-X, Stimpaks and army rations, perfect loot." Cass said.

"Yep, split it up evenly, then we can go, gotta go north now until we reach Novac. Not that far anymore." Ashley said as she put supplies into her backpack.

"I kinda thought we could stay here for the night." Joan said.

"Bad idea. If NCR reinforcements are coming we're screwed." Ashley said.

"Right, okay. Let's go then." Joan gave in.

They walked only a small distance as Ashley suddenly stopped.

"Tell me something, why are those ghouls there running out of the town?" She asked.

Cass and Joan followed her gaze and watched a couple ghouls practically run for their lives.

"That's odd, they don't usually do that, right?" Joan asked.

"No they don't." Cass said.

"Oh, given the situation, they're probably doing the right thing." Ashley said and pointed to something that came around the corner of a building.

"Hoooly crap…that's a…giant radscorpion!" Joan said.

"No, I know those….there isn't even a word for something that fucking big." Ashley said in awe.

"We should get the hell out before it sees us!" Cass interrupted just as the scorpion turned its attention from the fast running ghouls and onto the girl.

"Whoops…too late." Cass said, soundind annoyed.

"I hate to say this but….RUN!" Ashley yelled and turned tail, running away from the town as fast as she could, with Joan and Cass following. And the scorpion following them.

"You gotta go faster, come on, come on!" Ashley yelled a little ahead of Cass and Joan. She turned around and started firing on the giant beast, hoping to slow it down.

"Jesus Christ I'm only making it angry!" She yelled in frustration.

"Then don't shoot it!" Joan yelled, panting as she ran by.

"Well we gotta do something, we can't run forever!" Ashley yelled back as turned and ran again, her magazine empty.

They ran for another little distance but weren't able to outrun the mutant, so Ashley turned around again.

"We gotta fight, no other choice, use everything you have!" She panted, reloading her rifle, aiming and firing.

They fired on the scorpion with all their firepower and managed to slow it down, but it kept coming towards them, angrily clicking it's pincers.

"I'm out!" Cass yelled and dropped her shotgun. She reached for her pistol but the scorpion already caught up, using it's powerful claw to toss Cass away like a ragdoll.

"No, Cass!" Joan yelled in panic, wildly firing her laser rifle from further behind.

Ashley was closer, unloading one magazine after the other into the monster to little effect.

"Die already! You giant piece of shit! DIE!" She yelled out, her assault rifle clicking empty again, she quickly discared it this time, reaching for the more powerful lever action on her backpack. After three shot the mutated insect came too close, so she dropped the cumbersome rifle and ran back a little, where Joan was reloading her weapon, putting the last energy cell in.

"Drop the damn thing and use your pistol!" Ashley yelled, as she herself drew both her pistols and fired them at the scorpion. The small rounds doing even less damage than everything she fired before.

Joan had just pulled her laser pistol as the scorpion moved by her, brutally pushing her out of the way, moving towards Ashley.

"Oh so it's me you're after huh? Why didn't you just say so you ugly bastard?" Ashley said and drew her sword, ready to fight with it against the grossly overpowered enemy.

The scorpion used it's claws and stinger to attack Ashley, but the girl ducked and rolled most of the attacks, getting in occasional swings with her sword, which proved to be completely useless. Joan fired her laser pistol at it's stinger from the ground behind it, distracting it slightly.

"I'm out of ammo!" She yelled after she emptied an entire cell.

Suddenly there were two loud shots cracking in the distance, followed by two more. All bullets struck the scorpion in the face, killing it after it worked Ashley with his stinger again.

"Oh my god! What was that?" Joan said, looking in the direction of the shots.

"Ashley?" She asked after a few seconds without response from the blonde. She turned around just as Ashley was falling to her knees, holding her left arm.

"I don't feel too well. I think I might've caught some…poison." She said weakly and slumped down.

"Oh my god!" Joan shouted and rushed to Ashleys discarded backpack, turning it around to get all the contents out, going through it all.

"Antivenom! Antivenom! Gotta be some goddamn Antivenom!" Joan said with panic in her voice.

"Try this!" Cass, who was rushing over with an obvious limp, said and tossed her a syringe.

"Oh crap…are you alright?" Joan asked, blaming herself for forgetting Cass.

"I'm better than her! Now hurry up!" She said.

Joan ran back to Ashley and injected her with the Antivenom. Ashley visibly relaxed any laid still as Joan bandaged her arm and injected a Stimpak over the wound.

"Why is it always me? I mean…not that I'd prefer for you two to get hurt, but why the fuck me?" Ashley said annoyed.

"I guess you just attract bullshit." Cass said with a grin.

"How are you Cassidy?" Ashley asked, looking up to her.

"I'm alright, just got knocked out, gonna have a headache later." She answered.

"Hey there, you all good?" A male voice suddenly asked.

The girls looked over where Ashleys backpack laid all over the place and saw two men with red berets carrying scoped hunting rifles.

"Yeah, we're good. Thank you, I suppose you're our guardian angels?" Ashley said.

"Well we're the ones who finished your job on this…monstrosity. I'm Manny Vargas, this is Boone." One of them said.

"Bastard put up a hell of a fight." Cass said.

"No kidding, that's why we came here in the first place. All the gunfire, it sounded like all out war or something. Only you three?" Manny asked.

"Yeah only us, why?" Joan asked.

"Because judging by the amount of fire you put out, it sounded like at least a squad sized group. But I see you're packing quite some firepower." Boone said.

"Not much use to us." Ashley said and carefully stood up. "Was damn near ineffective and we used up a lot of ammo. And of course the fucker completely ruined my jacket!" She said and tossed her jacket away, now only wearing her beat-up Kevlar utility vest as protection.

"Well we should get most of that problems solved if you come back to Novac with us, I'm sure you can use a break." Manny said

"You're from Novac? We were just headed there." Joan said.

"Yeah, we're the guys that keep an eye on the town from the dinosaur. Boone here was on duty and heard all the hassle, so we came check it out. Now let's get your stuff and head back." Manny said.

"Wait…dinosaur?" Ashley said, raising her eyebrow.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Manny said with a grin.

"Just wait and see, wouldn't wanna spoil the effect it has on tourists." Cass said with a chuckle.

"Well alright, let's go." Ashley said and walked over to pick up all her things, taking a minute. After that they all followed the two snipers towards Novac.


	15. Chapter 15

**DesertStar87: I know that, dont worry, but thanks anyway. :) **

**Here we go with number 15.**

* * *

They were, rather slowly, walking north on the road towards Novac. After a little while, they finally saw the main attraction of Novac, Dinky the giant dinosaur.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ashley, who walked in the front next to Manny, exclaimed. The sniper gave a chuckle.

"No, it's pretty much the only thing that really sticks out in Novac." Manny said.

"Well, but now I see how you could see us, quite the vantage point. You said you were protecting the town? I guess that's where you spend your days." Ashley said.

"Yep we do. And about the other thing, that was actually all Boone, he heard the gunfire and then checked. He could only see the dust kicked up from the scorpion. He thought it was NCR in distress, so we decided to go help out. Wasn't NCR, but still worth it." He said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks again. Now, important question, how's your town stocked up on traders? We spent a lot of ammo on that huge ugly bastard and need some replenishment." Ashley said, holding up one of her empty pistols.

"Don't worry; Cliff will be happy to have some customers. Just don't let him sell you those damn souvenirs." Manny said.

"Souvenirs?" Joan asked from behind.

"Dumb toys of the Dino, nobody ever buys them but he tries to hassle people into buying them anyway." Mann said in an amused tone.

"I think he's hoping that someday some moron is gonna come along and buy the whole supply of the things." The otherwise very quiet Boone said.

"Back to topic, there's also a a travelling merchant at the moment, she says she wants to apply for a job at the gun runners. She seems very handy with guns, might be just what she need, I don't know how long she'll be around tho." Manny said again.

"Good, we'll find out in the morning." Ashley said.

"Something on 10 o'clock!" Boone suddenly interrupted. Many and Ashley quickly crouched down and redirected themselves towards to their left.

"For god's sake can't you just use directions that everybody knows?" Joan said, crouching down after the others.

"Everybody does, except you. But I'd prefer if we were done fighting for today. I don't have any ammo left anyway." Cass said.

"See anything?" Ashley said.

"Couple 'a vipers. " Boone said.

"Snakes?" Joan asked in surprise.

"Viper Gunslingers, local raider crew." Manny said.

"Raiders, seen worse." Ashley said.

"Yeah, but Vipers are packing some serious heat." Manny said.

"Only four of them, easy peasy." Boone said.

"Yeah, okay. I take the first on the right, you take the first on the left." Manny said.

"Copy." Was Boone's response.

"Fire!" Manny said. The command was followed by two almost simultaneously fired shots from their rifles. The two targets dropped, dead before they hit the ground.

"Next target, low moving. Fire!" Manny said, followed by another two shots and two more dead raiders.

"All clear!" Boone said.

"Impressive." Ashley commended. "Haven't seen anything like that since I worked with Colvin and Dusk in….." She remembered that Boone and Manny were NCR and how their deal was with the Brotherhood. "….the rangers." She finished quickly.

"Rangers? You were NCR?" Boone said.

"What? No! Reilly's Rangers, Merc group back in DC, best of the best." She lied.

"Oh I see, guess that explains your combat skills, too." Boone said, looking at Ashley suspiciously.

"Let's get going before more of the jackasses show up." Cass said.

They stood back up and made the rest of the way to Novac without any more interruptions. At the gate, they split ways, Boone moved back onto his post in the dinosaur and Manny went to his room after explaining to Ashley the layout of Novac really quick.

"Alright, Joan, how are you on caps?" Ashley asked.

"Should have about 200 on me." Joan asked.

"Alright, check the front desk, see how much a room is, rent us one if possible." Ashley said, nodding towards the office of the hotel.

"Got it." Joan said and walked away.

"How about you Cass?" Ashley said.

"Not too much left, I was running low actually." Cass said honestly.

"Alright, here, take these, go see Briscoe in the shop, we need supplies. Medical equipment, water, you know." Ashley said while tossing a small bag of caps over to Cass.

"What about ammo?" Cass asked.

"Good point, see what he has, if possible, get as much for you and Joan as you can, I'll see what I can get off this gun merchant over there." Ashley said, pointing over her shoulder to the gas station across the street where the merchant had set up shop.

Cass gave her a nod and walked towards the Dino-Bite gift shop to do some shopping, while Ashley walked towards the gas station where a woman clad in leather armor worked on something.

"I hear one can buy quality hardware here." Ashley said as she stepped up. The merchant turned around while answering.

"Yeah, at least I hope it's qual….I'll be damned. If it isn't Ashley Mitchell, "the lone wanderer of Vault 101". What are you doing here?" The woman asked.

"What? Sydney? What are YOU doing here?" Ashley said, truly surprised to meet the relic hunter she had met and saved in the capitol building.

"Well, you first!" Sydney said with a grin.

"Alright, I'm on a mission, naturally, hitched a ride on a vertibird towards California, got shot down and now I'm passing time on a little….quest….with some friends." Ashley explained her story in short.

"As always, excitement without end, eh? Been a little harder for me to get here. I travelled on land through the entire country, only occasionally hitching rides with vehicles, the last four states I crossed with a Brahmin. Took me a while." Sydney said.

"Wow, when did you leave then?" Ashley asked.

"When I saw you guys rip the Enclave a new one with that giant robot I figured that's it, the days of successful relic hunting in DC are over, so I took two days to get ready and left with Emaline due west." Sydney said.

"How'd you get the idea about the unsuccessful relic hunting?" Ashley asked

"Well I figured, when you guys beat the enclave, you'd have more manpower and tech available to fight the muties. And then the DC ruins would've been pretty save and more people would come in. And more competition means less income. I thought I'd be able to make more further west." Sydney said.

"So how'd it go? And how'd you end up here?" Ashley kept asking.

"Not good at first. Lost Emaline to some raiders in Fairfax, no idea if she's dead…or worse. After that it was rough, but the further west I got, the better it went. The Midwest was packed with Brotherhood. But also full of awesome loot. I found a lot of actual pre-war guns, many of them still wrapped and in retail-package. Good condition, too. Started selling them. And I heard a lot about the Gunrunners and what they do, so I figured I should go here and work for them. I always liked to work on guns." Sydney said, patting her customized SMG.

"Wow…I see. But now, we're back on the topic at hand. What can you offer me in the weapons department?" Ashley said with a smirk, looking over the table of guns.

"Depends on what you're looking for actually, I can offer various types of guns, firearms only tho, I don't like fancy lasers." Sydney said.

"I know, me neither. I'm looking for a replacement for this one, willing to trade it in, too. I believe you know what it is?" Ashley said, drawing the repeating rifle from her back and placing it on the table.

"Is that…Lincolns Repeater? How the hell did you get it? I been turning the Museum of History upside down while searching for it! And in great condition, too" Sydney said, examining the rifle.

"Guess I was there before you, what does it get me from your fine arsenal? It's great in terms of stopping power, but the piercing effect is sucky, if it hits any kind of even remotely reinforced armor the rounds turn to crap. I'd need something that combines the penetrating effect of the five-five-six and the stopping power of the forty-four." Ashley explained.

"Hmm, I see. I would suggest one of these." Sydney said and held up a long, sturdy looking assault rifle "They used to call these "FAL" before the war. Seven-point-six-two by fifty-one millimeter, more commonly known as a point three-oh-eight around here. Twenty round magazines, very reliable, accurate and powerful. Also, for that kind of round, a pretty light recoil. For emergency situations you also have an automatic mode on that baby, wouldn't recommend it tho, it's all over the place in full auto. The worth of your gun gets you the rifle and a good amount of ammo." Sydney said, grinning.

Ashley took the rifle and looked it over, checking the magazine, racking the charging handle and bringing it up to aim. She aligned the sights on a crow on the bridge nearby, held the rifle still and squeezed the trigger, shooting the crow.

"Bought!" Ashley said with a chuckle.

"Great! Hang on then." Sydney said and put five boxes of .308 ammo and a few spare magazines for Ashleys new rifle on the table.

"Is there anything else?" She then said.

"Yeah, actually there is. I'm looking to replace my old ten millimeter. It's just too big and clunky for a handgun. And I don't need the rather big caliber, I got my forty-five for that." Ashley said while putting the ammo and magazines in her backpack.

"Oh, a nine millimeter then, I have something for that." Sydney said and picked up a pistol from the table. "M9A1, those were used by the army before they introduced the ten millimeter N99 you are carrying. Looks good, reliable, big magazine, threaded barrel for supressors and a mounting rail for flashlights and laser-sights. Wanna test fire?" Sydney said, loading a magazine into the gun and chambering it.

Ashley took it, weighed it in her hand and then pointed it at a nearby road sign, shooting three quick shots in it with accuracy.

"Nice, I like it. Why the hell would they replace that thing?" Ashley said.

"I don't know, probably just went with bigger is better. So you like it? I got a SIG as well, you know, they made the twelve-point-seven pistols you see around here a lot." Sydney said, trying to sell the more expensive gun.

"No, no, I take it, how are you stocked up on accessories for it? And also, I'll put my leftover forty-four and ten mil ammo into the pay." Ashley asked.

Sydney let out a barely noticeable sigh and went through her wares. "I got a…thread-on suppressor and a fitting holster, of course some spare mags, too. All in all 350 caps for gun and stuff. Minus your ammo we're at 250."

"Okay, here you go." Ashley said and fixed the holster onto her gunbelt, putting the pistol in afterwards.

"So, how long you gonna be around here?" Sydney asked.

"Probably a day or so, we had a run-in with a rather…big…radscorpion. And with raiders and escaped convicts earlier, we're a little banged up. A day or two of R&R should do us some good. When are you heading out?" Ashley said while tucking her new things away.

"Tomorrow morning, with your recent purchases I made enough to finally move on and make the rest of my way to the Gunrunners headquarters, settle in, let the fortune hunting rest." Sydney said.

"Alright then we'll probably won't see each other again until we might come by the Gunrunners, which is only a matter of time I guess." Ashley said.

"Okay then, see you, I'll hit my room too, get some sleep." Sydney said and gave Ashley a brief hug.

Ashley walked away towards the motel, looking for Cass and Joan.

"Hey, can I have a word with you?" She suddenly heard a loud voice and looked around, not able to locate it.

"Up here!" He said again. Ashley looked up towards the dinosaur and saw Boone leaning over and looking down.

"Oh hey, what's up?" Ashley said.

"Could you come up here for a second please? The doors are unlocked." Boone said.

"Sure, be right up!" Ashley said and made her way towards the gift shop. 'Wonder what he could want.' She thought to herself.

Ashley walked around the dinosaur and into the store, briefly greeting Cass who was bargaining with Cliff Briscoe, the shop owner.

"Look, I'll say it one more time. I am not interested in your stupid dinosaur toys, now just get the damn ammo! Geez!" Cass said loudly, causing Ashley to chuckle as she walked by. She went up the stairs and through the door where Boone was on post.

"Here I am, what's going on?" Ashley said.

"Ah good, I'm having a little problem and was hoping you could help me with it." Boone said.

"Me? Why me?" Ashley asked.

"I thought you looked like someone who solves problems." Boone said.

"Well it always depends on the problem. And what's in it for me especially." Ashley said, leaning against the door.

"Alright, some caps should be no problem." Boone said gruffly.

"Some caps get you to tell me the problem." Ashley said lighthearted.

"Okay, I see. Well I'm looking for somebody." Boone said, gritting his teeth.

"Who would that be?" Ashley said.

"It's about my wife…" Boone started.

"Runaway wife huh? Got enough of the strong silent type?" Ashley said with a smirk.

"No, my wife's dead I'm sure." Boone said.

"Whoa, sorry about that, really." Ashley said, blushing after her failed joke.

"it's alright. Now, back to my problem. My wife's been kidnapped, by a Legion raid party. But I don't think it was random. I'm pretty sure someone sold her." Boone said.

"Slavery? So that's here too? Okay, who do you suspect?" Ashley said, now interested.

"I have no idea, that's the problem. I'm on post here during the nights and have to rest up during the day, I don't have much time to investigate. I only know that I can't rule anyone out. She didn't get along with the other people here in Novac." Boone said.

"Okay, I'll snoop around a bit, I can't make any promises tho, we're not staying too long." Ashley said.

"Well it doesn't matter, still better than nobody trying to find anything out. Everybody else just pretends it was a usual Legion kidnapping." Boone said.

"No problem, I'll see what I can do. Now you should go back to guarding the joint, don't want any surprised, had enough fighting for a day." Ashley said and turned to leave.

"Sure, thanks!" Boone said.

"No sweat!" Ashley said and left.


	16. Chapter 16

**Alright, after a longer break, here's chapter 16 for you! Hope it doesn't suck too much, been a bit distracted by the old real life, you know...the one outside the windows. :P  
**

* * *

Ashley went back into the dinosaur and downstairs, where Cass was packing the purchased ammo into her backpack and once again repelled Cliff, who was trying to sell her the dino toys.

"Look pal, for the last time, I'm not buying anything else! Now take your stupid toys and shove 'em up your…"

"Cass!" Ashley interrupted "Calm down, take your stuff and let's get out of here."

"Alright, alright." Cass said and followed Ashley back outside.

"So, what did he want, you know, what's his face?" Cass said.

"Hiring me to find out who sold his wife to Legion slavers." Ashley said.

"Wow, sounds rough. Gonna do it?" Cass asked, watching Ashleys expression.

"Dunno, I'll keep an eye out…maybe if I find some time." Ashley said.

"Hey there you are! Wait up!" Joan said from behind, catching up to them.

"Got us a room, permanent lease, it's basically ours, for only 200 caps." She said, waving a key around.

"Permanent? Wow…business must be bad if they rent out permanently for that price." Cass said.

"Who cares, one can never have enough rooms available." Ashley said.

"Let's go then, it's right up the stairs." Joan said and walked ahead to the room.

She unlocked the door and they went inside, leaning their rifles against the wall and placing pistols and other gear in the closets, safe for Ashley, who kept her new pistol holstered on her thigh.

"Alright, we got a double bed. You two took it worse, so you get the bed, I'll put down one of our bedrolls." Ashley said and unclipped one of the sleeping surfaces to roll it out.

"What are you talking about? You were close to death…what with the poison and all." Joan said.

"Don't even go there, you take the bed, period!" Ashley said with a grin and took off her beat-up body armor.

"Okay, I'm in no mood to get in a discussion about this." Cass said, taking off her hat and boots and letting herself fall on the bed.

Joan sighed, took off her combat gear, and slowly laid down on the other side of the bed.

"You know I don't bite. But if you wanna curl up and make yourself small all night, not my problem." Cass said as she watched Joan.

"Yeah, okay, okay. I'll get used to it." Joan said and stretched out.

Ashley changed her usual pants for some shorts but strapped the holster back to her thigh nonetheless.

"What's with the clothes?" Cass asked.

"If I got a place that I know is safe, I like to sleep in comfortable clothes, sleeping in BDU sucks." Ashley said.

"BDUs?" Joan asked

"Battle Dress Uniform, this things right here." Ashley said, holding up her pants. "Now enough chit-chat, resting time."

Ashley shut off the light and laid down on her bedroll, listening to Joan and Cass, who both turned in opposite directions, waiting for them to sleep.

After a little over and hour, Ashley only heard even breathing and got back up, sneaking over to her backpack and searching for the suppressor that goes with her Beretta. She also picked up her boots, unlocked the door and quietly slipped out. There she slipped into her boots and screwed the suppressor on her pistol.

She went down the stairs and looked around. 'Alright, nobody's out, now who could've done it?' She thought and then decided to check out Manny's room first. She walked over and tried the doorhandle, finding out the door was open, she slowly snuck in.

'Oh crap, he's here…' She thought as she saw Manny sleep on his bed. 'Hell, he's sleeping….now that I'm in, I'm staying in!' She snuck to the dimly lit terminal in the back of the room and connected her Pip-Boy to it. She found some files, but decided against reading them and just downloaded them to her Pip-Boy. She quickly walked back out and closed the door, leaning against it, breathing a sigh of relief. 'Sneaking is always such a rush…'

"Hey, what where you doing in there at that hour?" A man in front of her suddenly asked. She looked up and saw an NCR Ranger she hadn't seen in town before.

"Um…well…I…" Ashley mumbled.

The Ranger looked her over, and noticing her rather skimpy clothes, he nodded. "Well good for Manny, just don't stumble out of the fence, dangerous place out there!" He said with a grin and walked off.

'Great…he thinks I'm sleeping with Manny…just what I needed.' Ashley thought and walked away towards the front office, which she deemed empty at the time. She opened the door, which was unlocked to her surprise, and slipped inside. Looking around, she found the office to be actually empty and started going through the counters and the cash register, looking for any evidence of Boone's wife.

She looked down and noticed a safe under her feet. Grinning, she knelt down in front of it and began working the lock, unlocking it after a few seconds. 'What a cheap lock' she thought and opened the safe. She found a bag of caps, which she decided to keep, and some documents, she quickly went through and noticed one labeled "Bill of sale". She inspected it closer and found out that it was the contract over the selling of Boones wife to the Legion.

"And just what exactly do you think you're doing down there?" Came a voice behind her. Ashley froze for a second and then turned around, hand near her pistol. The owner of the Motel, Jeannie May Crawford, stood in front of her with a machete in hand.

"Look, first of all, you don't threaten me with that butter knife you got there. And second, I know what you've been doing. I wonder what Boone will do when I show him this bill of sale." Ashley said, waving the paper around.

"Oh it was the right thing to do! Nobody liked that stuck up little princess. And we needed the caps, the Legion said they would take good care of her." Crawford said.

"Right, the Legion who is always so nice and generous to people." Ashley said sarcastically. "Now step out of the way, I have something to do!"

"I can't let you leave with that." Crawford said.

"Look old lady, if you let me leave, you'll have a few more hours to live, because I'm sure Boone won't let you get away with that one. If you don't, you will be dead before I leave this building." Ashley said calmly.

Crawford didn't respond anymore, she just raised the machete and charged. But Ashley was faster, she sidestepped and drew her pistol, bringing it to level with Crawfords head.

"You get one of those, last chance!" She said. Crawford tried to charge again but was stopped before she could make the second step, getting a bullet into her forehead and hitting the ground dead. Ashley holstered her pistol and took the key to the motel from the womans pocket. She took a last look around and left the office, locking the door behind her and keeping the key. She quickly went over to the base of the giant dinosaur and went up to see Boone, who looked at her curiously when she entered.

"You're back soon. Found anything?" He asked.

"You could say so." She said and handed the bill of sale to Boone, who read it and shook his head.

"Crawford? I didn't expect that. I'll have to figure out what to do." Boone said, staring at the piece of paper.  
"Actually you won't have to figure out anything. Crawford kinda caught me in the act and attacked me with a rusty machete. I had to put a bullet through her head." Ashley said, scratching her neck.

"I see. Where is the body?" Boone simply asked.

"In the office. I locked the door and kept the key. I'd like for you to wait until we're gone before you…find…her. I don't like the kind of questions that get asked after things like that." Ashley said.

"Okay, I owe you that much." Boone said, nodding.

"Good then, I'll be going to bed now." Ashley said and turned to leave.

"Wait! Listen…you're not looking for an addition to your group by any chance, do you? I don't think I can stay here after all this." Boone suddenly asked.

"Thanks for the offer, but that wouldn't work out I think." Ashley said, grinning.

"Any why is that, if I may ask?" He asked

"Well for one thing, I'm not into the silent type like yourself. And there's another thing that would make this awkward if it ever came out, but I better don't reveal what it is." Ashley said.

"So you are Brotherhood then? I thought so as soon as I've seen you fight and talk, the way you've been carrying yourself, typical self-righteous Brotherhood." He said, scoffing.

"Self-righteous? What the fuck are you talking about? Look, if you're wanna get into this, no problem…but for your information, I'm very much capable of kicking your ass. So you better drop it and let me walk off this dinosaur." Ashley said, instinctively reaching for her gun, altho knowing that Boone would be faster if it came to it.

"Good one! But don't worry, I was no part of the war against the Brotherhood and I don't have a beef with you, so you are free to go. But you should leave anyway. Ranger Andy and the rest of the town might not be too happy about recent events. And now have a good night, Miss Brotherhood." Boone said and turned around to watch for threats.

As Ashley walked out of the dinosaur and back towards her room, she heard the sniper fire from the dinosaur, probably at some mutated creature. She pondered the usefulness of a sniper in the group for a few seconds, but went into the motel room without changing her mind. She put the freshly acquired bag of caps and her pistol down on the counter and laid down to get some sleep.

* * *

"Wake up!" Cass said to the sleeping Joan, while Ashley was sitting at the table, equipping her two rifles with slings for easy carry, having kept them from her old weapons.

Joan merely mumbled some words and kept sleeping. Suddenly she squealed, as Cass poured a pitcher of water over her.

"What the hell? Ewww…is that irradiated water?" She asked, jumping out of bed.

"How the hell would I know? And it's your own fault, I told you to wake up." Cass said, snickering.

"No you didn't!" Joan said.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Will you two stop the bullshit?" Ashley interrupted, getting the attention. "And then check your gear, we're leaving."

"What? But I thought we were gonna stay here a day or two?" Joan said.

"Change of plans, something came up, I'll explain it later, now get ready!" Ashley said urgently.

"How could something come up? We were in here sleeping!" Joan protested.

"Will you shut it and get your things together? I don't want to argue about this. I will explain everything later, promised." Ashley said, finally satisfied with length and position of the slings on her rifles, she put them down and started loading rounds into magazines.

"Alright, I'm going!" Joan said and picked up her belongings.

They all put on their clothes, strapped weapons, ammo and other stuff to themselves and loaded their guns.

"Okay listen, no goodbyes, we're going straight out and north towards New Vegas, do NOT go back if we're called." Ashley said, racking the charging handle on her battle rifle, her pistols holstered and her carbine slung on her back under her pack.

"What the hell is going on Ashley?" Cass asked suspiciously.

"I will explain once we're clear of the town, now let's move!" Ashley said and walked out.

They quickly moved down the stairs and towards the gate, where Ranger Andy and Manny were banging at the door of the motel office.

"Come on Jeannie May, what's going on in there? Open up!" The NCR Ranger said loudly.

"Walk, but don't look suspicious." Ashley said quietly, hanging back a little.

"You are the one holding your damn rifle like you're going on a fucking killing spree in a few seconds. Now stop pushing me or I will kick your ass!" Cass said angrily.

"Just keep for moving for fucks sake!" Ashley urged them on.

As they moved by and away from the gate, they heard the banging and shouting grow more intense and Ashley kept checking their backs.

"Okay we are out of sight. Now how about some answers?" Joan asked Ashley.

"Yeah, I promised, didn't I? Okay here goes: I killed Crawford." Ashley said plainly.

"You did WHAT?" Joan asked angrily.

"Calm down! There was a reason behind this." Ashley said, holding her hands up in defense.

"And what might that be? Did she give you a bent bottle cap?" Cass asked sarcastically.

"She sold Boone's wife to the Legion!" Ashley said, interrupting the others.

"What?" Cass and Joan asked in unison.

"Yeah, Boone asked me to look into it and I found the bill of sale in the office safe." Ashley explained.

"Well, I suppose that's a good enough reason." Cass said.

"Why didn't you just tell us earlier?" Joan asked.

"And risk the commotion you just made? The whole town would've known! Look I'm not an idiot, I know what I'm doing out here. And now, according to my map it's as simple as following the road until we hit Freeside. Come on, let's go." Ashley said and started down the road again, leaving Novac behind.


	17. Chapter 17

**And here we go with the next chapter!**

**As you might've seen up to this point and will see in the new chapters, I'm only losely following the original storyline. One reason for that, is that i write this almost entirely from memory, I'm not playing along with the story, I only occasionally jump in game if I need the layout of a certain location. The other reason would be, what point is in a fanfic, if it basically just recalls the game? I dont need to read a story that has every line of dialog and every character exactly as it in the game. So the game (and of course the Fallout canon) are merely the base of my story. I don't think I will be inventing new characters or places, but I will frequently have FO3-chars turn up in the Mojave. In turn of Fallout facts: that almost entirely comes from the Fallout Wiki. I never played Fallout 1,2 and following. I only started with number 3, so I take the facts, people, locations and factions from the Wiki, thanks for everyone who is participating there, by the way...can't ask for more than that. Should you find any fact that is off, don't hesitate to let me know via review and/or message, I'll surely look into it and change it if possible.  
**

**Anyway, I'm rambling, here we go:**

* * *

"Wow." She whispered.

The three women didn't make it far after they had left Novac, moving slow because of their still quite sore limbs from the fight with the radscorpion-queen. Now it was night and they had set up camp at an old gas station at El Dorado Dry Lake. Ashley had, naturally, taken first watch but now found herself just standing there, staring off in the distance, towards the almost blinding lights of New Vegas, above all, the tower of the Lucky 38. Joan and Cass were off sleeping inside the building, at least she thought so.

"Something wrong?" Joan suddenly said behind her, causing Ashley to jump and turn around.

"What? No, I'm fine. What are you doing out here, you should be sleeping." Ashley said, trying to put her usual, distant and cold look on her face, but failing.

"Well it much more looks like you should be sleeping, you're not watching anything as it seems. Come on, what's going on?" Joan demanded sternly.

"Nothing…it's just…." Ashley mumbled, half-heartedly waving her hand towards New Vegas.

"Vegas? What about it? Got any doubts about going there? Think Benny's somewhere else?" Joan asked, confused, not getting it.

"No it's nothing about that. It's just…the lights, the buildings….I don't get it." Ashley said sadly.

"Well what about them?" Joan asked, now curiously.

Ashley turned back around and let out a deep sigh.

"You don't understand. You've got a lot of intact buildings here, enough electricity to power them all, gathered from clean sources, you have lakes full of fresh and clean water and that all without a lot of effort." Ashley said.

"Yeah? So? Is that a bad thing?" Joan asked, dumbfounded.

"No, no, you still don't understand! Back home, nearly everything is in ruins, people live in rusty old ships and piles of scrapmetal. The little energy we have, comes from patched up small nuclear reactors, that are a threat to all around them. And it took 20 years and hundreds of lives, to get a source of clean water. The place is crawling with super-mutants and raiders, radiation is everywhere, it's the wasteland in it's purest form. And here…this can hardly be called a wasteland. A desert outside the cities yes, but no wasteland." Ashley said, breathing deeply after her monologue.

"Wow. Really, that bad?" Joan whispered in awe.

"Yeah, really that bad. I just don't get it. How could it all become so fucked up, how could it all go downhill like this?" Ashley said, sitting down on the ground, still staring at the lights of New Vegas.

Joan bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She just sat down beside the blonde and put an arm around her.

"Well, you said you've got a supply of clean water now, didn't you? That's a start. Things are bound to look up from there I bet." She said.

"It's getting better now doubt. But it will never be…normal…hell, it won't even be nearly like this." She sad, not reacting to the arm put around her.

"What can you expect after the war? You can't measure it with pre-war views. It can't possibly ever be like this again. You can just make the best of it. By your telling, the east coast got it worse, but you'll catch up and make it better. And if you ever get tired of it, just move here. Or better, move to California, it's even better there." Joan said.

Ashley chuckled. "Move here, eh? Couldn't do that to the poor people of the Capital Wasteland."

"Why not?" Joan asked, noticing the better mood of her companion.

Ashley blushed, altho barely visible in the dark. "Well you know, back home I'm somewhat of….at the lack of a better word…a superhero."

"Well, now you've got my attention. Tell me about it, what did you do that gave you that image?" Joan asked, amused.

"Not that much, really…it was a lot of luck. I believe I mentioned I grew up in a Vault?" Ashley said, holding up her PipBoy.

"You did, yeah" Joan said.

"Good. Well, growing up in a Vault, I naturally had been raised by pre-war standards, as much as the situation and the whole social experiment thing allowed, we'll get to that later. Anyway, when I got out and stepped into Megaton for the first time I immediately began solving all the big and small problems around me. It just seemed like the natural thing to do, I was raised to help people in need. And those people were in clear need of help. And at first, I did it without payment, much to the surprise of the wastelanders. I made friends and enemies by doing that. I remember a certain, shady businessman with a broken nose and a bloody suit…..anyway, when I defused the bomb that gave Megaton it's name, Three Dog, that crazy old bastard started talking about me…."

"Three Dog?" Joan interrupted, chuckling.

"DJ of the only radio station in the DC area, crazy old cook, but fun to listen to and a very decent person, always insistent on fighting the "good fight". Anyway, from that point on he sucked up every piece of information he got about me and made it into some story that made me look like a saint, plus that damn nickname. After a while, the entire Capital Wasteland knew me by "The Lone Wanderer", whatever that shit was about, I didn't do much alone. I even had the pleasant companionship of an old raider."

"Interesting. But it looks like you changed somewhere along the way. You are good person, I saw that, but you're clearly not a full out saint." Joan interrupted again.

Ashley laughed "True that! I went on doing this pretty carefree for a while…until I had to watch my father die by the hands of the Enclave. Something broke in me that day, I don't quite know what, but I changed. For a while, I didn't care about others at all, just went about my business of revenge, killing and torturing everything in the way to get there. During that time, yours truly became the hardass that's sitting next to you." She smirked.

"Sorry about your father." Joan said, squeezing her a bit with her arm.

"Thanks, but I'm over it by now, I grieved hard for a while. Until I got a call for help from my Vault. After I saved them, sadly with some….compromises. I started acting differently again, doing favors again, helping people…but differently." Ashley continued.

"How so?" Joan asked.

"Well for starters, people now had to pay considerably for the services of the oh-so-famous Lone Wanderer." Ashley said with a grin on her face, causing Joan to laugh.

"After some success of my own, I teamed up with the Brotherhood again, with the things I found out, combined with the knowledge of my father we were able to start the water purifier and keep it running. But the Enclave need to be cleaned out of there first and I couldn't even dream of doing that alone. So after some discussion, we took on the Enclave, but honestly Liberty Prime did all the hard work."

"Liberty Prime?" Joan interrupted again.

"Old, HUGE Army robot, firepower worth two armies and armored to hell and back." Ashley explained. "And by the way, death is a superior alternative to communism!" She added with a deadly serious expression, causing Joan to burst into laughter.

"What?" She asked, close to tears from laughing.

"The thing was built for the liberation of Anchorage and we just reprogrammed it to think of the Enclave as the Chinese. It was designed to play anti-communism propaganda and that's what it used to say." Ashley chuckled.

After their laughing they sat in silence, Joan carefully watching Ashley who absentmindedly stared into the distance again. She only snapped out of it when she felt Joan lean against her and breath very evenly, fast asleep. She smiled and just let her sleep, not moving.

"I kinda missed that…" Ashley whispered, holding the redhead and smiling to herself.

When Ashley woke up, she felt extremely stiff and needed a few moments to get her bearings, she gasped as she remembered what happened. Looking up she saw that she was lying outside, with Joan using her chest as a pillow besides her.

"Crap, I fell asleep out here?" She groaned.

"Don't worry, I kept watch over you two lovebirds." Cass said behind her with an amused tone.

"Great….but thanks, appreciate it. Didn't plan on falling asleep but didn't wanna wake her." Ashley said quietly.

"You really are a big softie, aren't you?" Cass mused.

"Don't let anyone know!" Ashley chuckled, giving the other redhead a wink. Then she carefully shook Joan. "Wake up!"

"Just a few more minutes…pleaseeeeee." Joan muttered.

"Sorry, can't do it, we have to get up and moving." Ashley said.

"Alright…." Joan sighed and got up, looking around in confusion. "What are we doing out here?"

"You fell asleep on me and I didn't wanna wake you." Ashley said.

"I'm gonna go in and grab out stuff." Cass said and walked into the gas station.

"Thanks by the way, for letting me chew your ear off last night, I kinda needed that." Ashley said softly.

"Don't sweat it, I'm a great listener. Thanks for being my pillow." Joan said, chuckling and stretching.

"Wasn't up to me, but you're welcome. And now please get up, we need to go and I can't feel my arm." Ashley chuckled.

"Okay I'm moving. And tonight you have to finish telling your story!" Joan said happily.

After they all geared up and had a quick breakfast they set off for New Vegas again.

"Fuck, get down, quick!" Ashley urged after a little while, dropping to the ground with Joan and Cass following suit very quick.

"What's going on?" Cass asked.

"There's mercs ahead." Ashley whispered, reaching for her binoculars.

"So what? Mercs aren't bad guys!" Joan said annoyed.

"Ever seen mercs wearing completely black combat armor and matching helmets?" Ashley hissed.

"Actually no, seems unusual." Cass said in thoughts.

"Looks like Talon Company, altho I don't know what they're doing here or how they even got here, I was sure they only operate in the Capital Wasteland and we took 'em out there." Ashley said, bringing her binoculars up and glassing the mercs.

"Well fuck me sideways!" Ashley cursed, causing Joan and Cass to raise their eyebrows. "It's actually Talon. This doesn't make things easier."

"Who are they?" Joan asked.

"Probably the worst mercs of all, they specialize in hunting down people with a good reputation and take every mission that brings them caps. This means, they spent most of their time in the last few years, hunting me. Hey, one of you know what's behind that door in the rock there?" Ashley said, still observing the vicious mercenaries.

"No idea, sorry." Cass said.

"Nevermind, it's a Vault entrance, the just opened the door, I can see the Vault main door. 11 or 111, whatever, they probably set up shop there. Fuck! We're neither equipped, nor are we fit enough to deal with them. We have to go around. What's the next safe spot on the route up here?" Ashley asked.

"188 Trading Post is next, not that far, just at those overpasses there, maybe a half hour tops."

"Okay then. We move fast, no wasting time. If they see me, we're dead." Ashley said, standing up and quickly taking off towards their next stop.

After roughly 20 minutes, they made their way up the ramp to the 188 Trading Post, coming to a halt. Joan and Cass were holding their sore limbs after the fast paced walk and only Ashley was fit, tapping something on her PipBoy.

"What are you doing?" Joan asked her.

"Marking the Talon position, gotta check that out soon, maybe get some help from the Brotherhood, but I doubt they will come out of their hole." Ashley said.

"Brotherhood? You mean those Brotherhood of Steel guys? Are you with them?" Cass asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am, but not from around here. Doctrines vary and the current state the Mojave chapter is in, is nothing compared to our chapter at the east coast. Is that gonna be a problem?" Ashley said, busy fumbling with her PipBoy.

"No, I don't care actually, just didn't know is all." Cass said. "And now that I see it, I wanted to tell you something, both your fancy arm computers made a ruckus last night while you were in deep sleep. They beeped and blared out some kinda static noise." Cass said.

"Huh? I didn't see anything, there are no messages popping up. You got anything?" Ashley asked Joan, who was now also searching through the device.

"Not yet. Wait, there's a new radio signal." Joan said.

"Well that explains it. Probably some junky old Army radio relay that came in range." Ashley said, lowering her arm and the PipBoy.

"It says Galaxy News Radio." Joan said and looked up.

There was silence for a few second as Joan and Cass both wondered about Ashleys utterly confused expression.

"WHAT? That's not even possible!" Ashley said, bringing her PipBoy up again and switching to the Radio tab. And indeed she found an entry labeled Galaxy News Radio.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She muttered and tuned into a the signal, waiting a few seconds for the static to clear.

"…..it's Three Dog again with some news. Listen folks, this might come a little late, but I just got word from some of my contacts, that GNR is now broadcasting….wait for it….nationwide! That's right everyone, every radio in what's left of our country can now tune in to old Three Dog!" the distinctive voice of the GNR DJ toned from the PipBoy speakers.

Ashley just stared at the device on her arm, mouth agape. Joan and Cass were busy chuckling at Three Dogs way of speaking.

"How that's possible, many of our regular visitors are probably questioning. And this question is legit, since we couldn't even broadcast out of this very hellhole of a city a little more than 3 years ago. Well everybody, once again, we have to thank our very own Lone Wanderer for that. She fixed our dish back then and this time she liberated an…hold onto something…alien spaceship that is apparently somewhere over our planet. How she got there? I have no idea. I only know that the nice folks from the Brotherhood of Steel managed to turn the thing into some kind of relay station that allows us nationwide broadcast." Three Dog continued with his broadcast.

"Oh come on! Seriously?" Ashley nearly shouted at the machine.

"What's the matter?" Cass asked.

"They sent me here to build up some sort of communication with the Brotherhood main chapter because they couldn't reach them over that distance. I get my ass sent across the country in a cramped up fucking vertibird and NOW they finally manage to turn the damn thing up there into a radio transmitter?" Ashley shouted furiously.

"As to our new listeners all over the country: You're listening to Galaxy News Radio, coming to you from our former capitol, Washington D.C. Which now, really is just another hellhole. Anyway I'm Three Dog, and I will be back soon with more news on all things wasteland!" Ashley shut the radio off after the news broadcast ended and sighed.

"That changes a lot. Listen, do you mind if we, after we took care of the poor idiot that shot you, head over to the Brotherhood bunker so I can check in? Cause I think my mission is obsolete now." She said, turning towards Joan.

"Sure, no problem." Joan said.

"I'll stay at the strip anyway, once we're there. Haven't been for a while, my caravan is gone so I might as well stay there for a bit." Cass said, shrugging.

"Okay then, thanks. Now let's do some business here, rest up and get up to Vegas." Ashley said, walking up to the traders.


	18. Chapter 18

**Because of all the nice reviews, I'm already giving you the next one! But please don't expect that kind of update rate always. :P**

**Deep Sixxed: I don't really know yet. Well, I _do_ know about Dead Money, I will not put that one in since it sucked. Honest Hearts I'm not sure yet, gotta see how the story goes. And as for Old World Blues...will see, gotta play it first.**

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After they stocked up on food and water at the traders, they set up camp in the back of an old army truck left on the bridge, the made a small fire and cooked some meals, listening to Three Dog on the radio, who was more frequent with his "news" reports, as he was now busy recalling the tale of the famous Lone Wanderer for all the new listeners.

"Great, the guy must really feel an urge to piss me off constantly. It ain't enough that I can't go to any damn place in the Capital without being asked for help with some petty problems. No, of course not….now he has to spread the bullshit over the entire country. I'm so sick of it." Ashley complained while eating her Brahmin steak.

"Relax, nobody knows you around here, as long as you don't tell anybody, no one will know that's you." Cass said.

"Yeah, besides, I really like the story, sounds so adventurous." Joan chuckled.

"Adventurous my ass. It was a lot of getting my ass shot off by all kinds of things." Ashley said annoyed. "It really wasn't that…what the fuck?" She got interrupted mid-sentence as several smaller explosions went off nearby. They all grabbed their weapons, Cass and Joan propping theirs up on the side of the trucks bed and Ashley jumping off and checking their surroundings.

"Sounded like grenades." Cass noted.

"Anybody hurt?" Ashley yelled over to one of the traders in the nearby tent, who gave a thumbs up in return.

"No hits, where the hill did that come from?" Ashley asked out loud just as the arms shop on the opposite side of the bridge took a hit from a high explosive missile.

"Whoa shit! That comes from down south!" Joan yelled. Bullets now started impacting all over the trading post. The merchants grabbed weapons and went into defensive positions while the travelers that were around rushed to any sort of cover they could find.

"Alright, we're gonna head over the bridge and see if there's any heavy weaponry left where the arms merchant was. If they got a rocket launcher out there, we need one too!" Ashley said and moved towards the bridge.

Cass followed directly, but Joan noticed a boy crouching behind a wrecked car and took off running towards him.

"Joan, no, leave him!" Ashley yelled. "Fuck, let's go Cass, come on!"

"Shouldn't we help her?" Cass asked as she ran along.

"Best we can do is find some artillery and cover them." Ashley said and leapt over the counter of what was left of the arms merchant store.

"Shit is all fucked up, that rocket was dead on." Cass said after they checked the weapons that were scattered around the place.

"Yeah I can see that. Fuck fuck! Alright, take this…" Ashley said, unslinging her carbine and handing it over to Cass "…your shotgun won't do much good from here. They're gonna be coming up the other side, shoot everything that looks hostile. It's Talon, so black combat armor means not friendly, got it?"

"Got it!" Cass said, propping the rifle up on the counter.

The first one they saw was the one carrying the rocket launcher, he was taking aim at their position when he had his skull caved in by a woman in a brown robe, armed with a power fist, who had been in cover behind a dumpster.

"Launcher's down! Get your asses over here!" Ashley yelled towards Joan.

Joan grabbed the boys arm and made a run for the bridge, but was cut short as two more mercs opened up with miniguns, spraying the entire area with bullets.

"Ow fuck! Get down!" Cass yelled as she took a ricochet into her leg before diving behind the counter. They heard screams on the opposite side, other people being hit by the hail of gunfire. Ashley popped out every few seconds to fire at the attackers, but to no avail.

"If I were you I'd stop firing!" One of the mercs called from the other side.

"And why would we do that?" Ashley yelled from behind their solid cover.

"Because we have hostages!" Came the answer, causing Ashleys "battle grin" –as she called it- to fade. She carefully looked up and saw several Talons holding the two wounded merchants, the girl with the power fist, the little boy and Joan at gunpoint.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Ashley cursed under her breath. "Can you walk?" She asked Cass, who shook her head.

"I guess I could, but not at any rate that allows fighting." The redhead answered.

"Alright, what do you want?" Ashley yelled back over the bridge.

"6000 caps!" Was the answer after a few seconds.

'Of course, what else…' Ashley thought "Where and when?" She then yelled over.

"At our Vault, you know where, we noticed you observing us earlier. You've got 3 hours, not more. After that we will take them all and sell them as slaves, that will get us our caps too. I'll be expecting you!" And with that, they took off.

Ashley leapt up from cover and followed them, but got pinned down by the minigunners who stayed a little behind and covered the retreat of the mercs.

She cursed as she ran back to Cass who was bandaging herself. "How are you?" She asked her.

"Caught a bullet, what do you think? I'll be fine but I can't run." Cass said, shaking her head.

"That's alright, I'll do this one alone." Ashley said as she collected all the ammo she needed from the destroyed store.

"Wouldn't it be better to just pay? I'm sure if we looted all the merchants inventories here, we'd have enough caps." Cass said.

"Don't be naïve, they won't let them go. The only good that would do, is give them 6000 caps and another hostage to be sold as a slave. I'm doing this, don't worry. You stay here and take care of the wounded. See if anybody is in a condition to run, if so, send them to the nearest NCR outpost to get help." Ashley said, dropping off everything she wouldn't need and stocking up on ammo.

"You can't go in there, there's too many." Cass simply stated.

"There's no other way." Ashley said, opening another box. "Well, maybe there is…." She said, holding up two stealth boys.

"So what, you're planning on sneaking in? It's a Vault, they'll practically step on you!" Cass said, doubting the plan.

"You forgot that they just moved in there…and I grew up in one of those things, I know my way around them." Ashley said and attached one of the stealth boys to her wrist.

"Guess I can't do anything to stop you, good luck!" Cass said as Ashley activated the device and cloaked herself.

"Thanks, but I don't need any extra, I was born lucky!" Ashley chuckled and Cass heard her walk off.

With the setting sun further aiding her camouflage, she easily snuck around the two minigunners that were still on post and quickly killed them with her combat knife, leaving them to rot in the desert.

The cave entrance to Vault 11 was guarded by a single merc. Ashley snuck close and took him out with her silenced pistol. She carefully opened the door and went into the all too familiar cave that led to the Vault's giant door. It was rusty, like so many others, but seemed fully functional, altho it was wide open, with guards lazily sitting at a table in the entrance room.

Ashley had no problem sneaking past them, since they were playing with a set of cards and didn't pay attention. She snuck along the halls, avoiding mercs by staying in corners and pressing herself to the wall. She peeked into every room looking for the captives but didn't find anything on the entrance level. She took the stairs down, where a single merc came running towards her with a panicked expression. Deciding that this wasn't a good sign, she dispatched him with a silenced headshot. She dragged the body into a nearby maintenance closet, took his gun and locked the door.

The next room she found was locked from the outside, she raised her gun and pushed the button, expecting Talons inside. And she found Talons, two of them, but they were already dead and the woman in the brown robe from the trading post was stripping them of their guns. She turned around when the door opened and got a confused expression as she didn't see anybody.

"Don't worry, I'm friendly." Ashley said before she deactivated the stealth boy, slipped in and closed the door behind her.

"Great! You were at the trading post, weren't you? Who are you?" The woman asked.

"Name's Ashley and yes, I was there." Ashley said.

"Well thanks for coming! I knew a fellow sister of steel wouldn't let me down. I'm Veronica." Veronica said.

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I overheard your conversation earlier, you're the Lone Wanderer and I know for a fact that you are a Knight with the Brotherhood. Myelf, I'm a journeyman scribe." Veronica said, pulling out her holotags and holding them up.

"Well…that's unexpected. But good to know I have a real ally here, we can talk more later, now we gotta find the others. Got any ideas?" Ashley said, truly surprised by the fact that the woman is a Brotherhood scribe.

"I know that they keep Samuel in a room down the hall, but I heard a gunshot there a few minutes ago, I wouldn't get my hopes up." Veronica said, tucking a pistol into her robe.

"Okay, take this." Ashley said, handing her the second stealth boy. "We shouldn't attract too much attention until we found the others."

"Got it." Veronica said, putting the stealth boy on and activating it. Ashley did the same and they walked back into the hallway. She opened the next door and peeked in, seeing the dead merchant and four Talons sitting around, cleaning their weapons. They looked up as the door slid open and walked towards it, taking a look around.

"Must be a malfunction, damn rusty Vault." He said and closed it again from the inside, not noticing the two camouflaged women right next to him.

Ashley activated the security lock, sealing the mercs in and they walked on down the hall.

"What are we gonna do with him? We can't have any fun with him!" A voice in the next room caused them to stop.

"We're gonna watch him until we find a slaver that buys him. Kids…what the?" The female Talon interrupted herself as the door slid open. They checked and when they found nothing, she continued. "Anyway, Kids bring the most caps with the slavers so this is great."

"It also causes you the most problems you knuckleheads." An invisible voice said to them from inside the room. The Talons panicked and drew their weapons. But the man was quickly beaten to death by Veronicas power fist while the woman caught Ashleys bullet right between the eyes. They shut off their stealth boys and Ashley leaned down to the kid.

"Hey there, don't worry, we're here to get you out. But we have to find the others first, think you can stay here and hide for a little while?" Ashley said in a soft tone, smiling at him.

"Yeah, I think I can, I'll just go in that locker there and wait for you, okay?" The boy asked.

"Good idea, we'll be back soon!" Ashley said and stood up.

"Cute, got experience with kids?" Veronica asked.

"Story for another time, now let's go find the others." Ashley answered with a grin and activated her stealth boy once more.

The two made their way towards the last door on the hallway, they stopped and listened, hearing several Talons talk in the room, but also muffled sobbing and crying.

"Doesn't sound too good." Veronica whispered.

"No it doesn't. No more sneaking now, I'm putting some frag mines in the hallway behind us to keep the backup out. We go in and fuck them up, I don't even wanna know what they did." Ashley said, already in the process of placing mines in the corridor while Veronica readied her pistol.

When she was done, Ashley drew her M1911, checked the load and then gave Veronica a nod to hit the door opener.

As soon as Veronica pushed the button, they rushed in, firing their pistols at the five Talons that were spread around the room.

"Jesus…." Ashley whispered as she looked around. The female trader was chained to a desk in the corner of the room, but what got her most was Joan hanging on a chain from the ceiling, with her arms pulled up way too high, she seemed conscious but her entire body was bruised and bloody, similar to the other girl. They both only had dirty and torn rags on them.

"Get her!" Ashley said to Veronica, pointing at the merchant, while climbing on a chair to release Joan from the chains. The redhead was trembling all over and groaning in pain as Ashley lowered her down.

She knelt down next to her, taking in the terrible sight of her abused body. "Are you alright?" she whispered. In response, Joan starting sobbing again and threw herself in Ashleys arms. "It hurts." She simply said.

"It's alright Joan, I'm here. What hurts?" Ashley said, looking up to see Veronica gently close the eyes of the merchant, shaking her head at the questioning look from Ashley.

"They…They beat the shit out of me and I think I dislocated a shoulder hanging from that chain." Joan said between sobs. In the hallway, the mines went off, causing the area to shake. Veronica rushed over and hit the lock on the door, buying some more time, but urging towards Ashley. "We gotta get out of here!"

"It's alright honey, some Stimpaks and you're good as new." Ashley said and after a little pause added with some hesitation, not really wanting to know the answer "Did they do anything else?"

As she got no other answer than more sobs, she knew her answer and had to restrain herself so she wouldn't shake in anger.

"Okay Joan, we're getting you out of here. But you will have to walk, think you can do that? You're gonna go with Veronica here." She said softly, pointing at the scribe behind her.

"What are you gonna do?" Joan asked very quietly.

"I'm gonna go ahead and clear the way, don't worry." Ashley answered, then slowly helped the redhead onto her feet. She then put her pistol in the girls hand. "I know your arms hurt, but take this, just in case."

Veronica took over, supporting Joan with one arm and helping her walk while Ashley unslung her rifle, racked the charging handle and opened the door. Outside were two Talons at the far end of the hallway. They didn't even have time to react as they each caught two high caliber bullets from Ashleys rifle, falling down dead before they hit the ground.

"Alright, let's go!" Ashley said and walked ahead at a quick pace, soon turning a corner and walking out of range.

"Easy there, no rush, she's gonna clear the way." Veronica said, as she helped Joan at a much slower pace. They heard Ashleys rifle report in front of them, over and over again, only occasionally interrupted by the sound of other weapons being fired. As they made it to the room with boy hiding in, Veronica quickly went in.

"Hey, you can come out now, it's safe!" She called out and the buy slowly opened the locker and walked out after he saw Veronica.

"Alright, you stay close to me, we're gonna get back to the post, okay?" She asked, getting a nod as an answer.

As they made it to the staircase, they heard a ground shaking explosion from above, followed by absolute silence. Veronica leveled her pistol with the stairs, ready to shoot any mercs that come down.

"All clear!" Ashley shouted from above after a few very tense seconds. Only a few seconds later, the blonde came down the stairs and placed herself on Joans other side, helping her up.

"You took them all down?" Veronica asked in awe.

"No, I'm sure there's more. I locked down some staircases and hallways, they'll get out eventually, but for now we're clear." Ashley responded

They made their way out without any more interruptions, Joan getting steadier with each step.

"Where's Cass?" Joan suddenly asked.

"She's back at the trading post." Ashley said as they walked out of the vault and into the wasteland.

"Is she…?" Joan asked shakily.

"No, no! She's good, caught a ricochet in the leg but she's fine. She's taking care of the wounded." Ashley said quickly.

"Who are you by the way?" Joan now asked Veronica.

"Name's Veronica, you could call me a friend of Ashley." Veronica said, smiling.

"Brotherhood?"

"Yep."

"Figures."

They made the rest of the way to the trading post in silence. On their arrival, they lifted Joan up on the army tuck they camped on before and Ashley joined her, taking out her medical supplies.

Veronica walked off to help the others and was replaced by Cass.

"Whoa shit…what happened?" She asked.

"Later!" Ashley said sternly and started injecting Stimpaks into the more severely abused parts of Joans body, she also injected three doses of Med-X, causing the redhead to doze off after a few moments. With nothing more she could do, she jumped off the truck.

"So, what's the situation?" She asked Cass.

"Two minor wounded, three dead, all taken care of. What happened to Joan and where are the two merchants?" She said, looking over at the sleeping Joan.

"The other two are dead. As for Joan, she had it rough, they beat the crap out of her." Ashley said grimly.

"Did they….you know?" Cass asked slowly.

"She didn't say the words, but I'm pretty sure, something has her deeply upset besides the beating. I didn't wanna push her tho." Ashley said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"What happened to the mercs?" Cass changed the topic.

"Those who aren't dead, are trapped in the vault for now. It went pretty smoothly, I wish I'd gotten there earlier tho." Ashley said.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, you did all you could. But listen, I need to talk to you." Cass said.

"What's up?" Ashley asked.

"Well, you know…I like you, and Joan too….but I don't plan on dying anytime soon. And let's face it, it's safer leading a caravan through a Deathclaw nest than hang around you for too long, no offence." Cass said quickly, so she wouldn't be interrupted.

"None taken. So I'm guessing you wanna stay here?" Ashley said, sighing, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, at least for now." Cass said with an apologetic expression.

"No problem, I understand. Not everybody's cut out to being so dangerously close to me for longer periods of time. You're not the first one, don't worry." Ashley said, giving her a grin.

"Okay, I'll go check on the wounded again then. See you tomorrow!" Cass said and left.

Ashley walked back to the tuck, put her combat jacked over Joan and sat down on the trucks bed behind her. She turned the radio on and started cleaning her weapons, listening to Three Dogs rambling all the while. She was soon joined by Veronica again, who leant onto the truck.

"The kid is fine." The scribe said.

"Good." Ashley responded.

"How's your friend." Veronica asked, taking her power fist off and jumping on the truck too, sitting on the opposite side of Ashley.

Ashley sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "She's bad, I don't think there's any part of her that isn't bruised up. I gave her a killer dose of Med-X so she would sleep and gave her like a gazillion stimpaks, that should make it better when she wakes up."

"Good, at least she is alive." Veronica said. "Hey um, mind if I use one of your bedrolls tonight? I usually sleep over by the arms merchants but there's not much left."

"Sure, no problem. What are you doing here anyway? Isn't the chapter under lockdown?" Ashley asked, now curiously.

"it is, but we still have to get food and other things from the outside, that's where I come in. I'm the procurement specialist. But I think I only got that position cause I was going on the others nerves." The scribe said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"How do you figure?" Ashley asked

"One reason is that I was being told to shut up repeatedly, the other that they send me out on supply runs, even tho we got months of supplies in the bunker at the moment. But since I'm one of the few in the chapter that openly expresses disagreement with the current doctrine, I was the logical choice for the assignment." Veronica explained.

"That's rough." Ashley stated.

"It's not too bad, really. Sure, the chapter is on the way to dying out, but at least I get out of the bunker." Veronica said, shrugging.

"Alright, I'd like to hear more, but I'm dead tired and I want at least a half decent night of sleep. Talk in the morning?" Ashley said to Veronica, who nodded.

"Sure, go sleep, I won't go anywhere." Veronica said.

With that, Ashley stretched out on the free bedroll and quickly slipped to sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

**Cause i'm having the most boring weekend ever, here's the next one, chapter 19. That's gonna be it for a few days now tho, work's gonna keep me busy again during the week. But I'll try to get one or two chapters out next weekend.**

**Here we go, enjoy! And thanks for the reviews!**

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When Ashley woke up the next morning, Joan was still out of it and Veronica was sleeping as well. She grabbed her rifle and jumped off the truck. She noticed a couple of NCR Troopers around the trading post and walked up the closest one, quickly stuffing her holotags back under her shirt.

"Hey, excuse me, when did you arrive?" She asked him.

The trooper turned around at the question. "Some time last night, the Sarge insisted that we go, we didn't want to if I'm honest." He said.

"Lovely. How many of you are here? And was there anymore trouble?" Ashley asked.

"It's just the four of us and Sergeant McCredie. Oh right, and we brought Doc Sawbones to take care of the wounded." The trooper answered lazily.

'_Doc Sawbones? You gotta be kidding me….better not be some faulty Mister Gutsy.'_ She thought. "Where can I find them?" She then asked.

"Somewhere over by that big tent. Talking to some feisty redhead with a cowboy hat, bitch's got some attitude issues." He said.

Ashley chuckled and walked over to the tents where Cass talked to the NCR Sergeant in question.

"Morning! How's the situation?" Ashley said as she walked up to them.

"Oh hey Ashley, I was just giving the Sarge here all the details." Cass said.

"Some good work you did there, getting out those hostages." The Sergeant said with an appreciative nod.

"Well, two of them still died. We need to get them out and also check if there's any Talons left." Ashley said.

"Yes well, I gave the report back to Golf, but we're too short on manpower, there isn't gonna be an attempt to get in there anytime soon." McCredie said.

"You got what? Four men with you? Five trained soldiers, that should be enough to clear out the last of the mercs. I'd go too, making that six." Ashley said.

The Sergeant laughed before answering "Those guys? You'd be better off going all alone again. I'm not taking them into anything even remotely resembling a combat situation. They're called misfits for a reason. Don't worry and sit tight, Chief Hanlon said he might send some rangers when they return from patrol."

"Alright then, whatever you say." Ashley said and then turned to Cass "You know where I can find some clothes for Joan? Those rags they put her in ain't gonna cut it."

"The merchs had some sets of leather armor I think, check the collection over there." Cass said, pointing to a large of amount of crates and boxes inside one of the tents.

"Alright, thanks. Oh and, do you know what happened to her weapons?" Ashley said while walking to the crates.

"Yeah, I put them on the truck last night." Cass said.

"Good. Now let's see what we have here." Ashley said and opened the crate labeled "armor". Inside she indeed found several suits of leather armor and some more basic clothes. She picked a set of armor that looked like Joans size and walked back to the truck. She found Veronica awake and giving Joan another Stimpak.

"She looks a lot better. The Stimpaks worked some miracles over night." The scibe said as she noticed Ashley.

"They usually do." Ashley said and climbed up, putting the set of armor down.

"How's the trading post?" Veronica asked.

"NCR arrived…but they're sitting with their thumbs up their asses. I'd like to take out the rest of the Talons but I don't feel like pushing my luck alone in there again." Ashley said and dug through her backpack, looking for something to eat. "Want some army rations?" She asked as she found a few of the packed meals.

"No, I'll go see how much of my stuff is left and then start heading back to the bunker. Gotta report in, been a while since I was home." Veronica said standing up, fixing the power fist to her arm, the device whirred to live as she moved her fingers.

"I see, using the opportunity huh?" Ashley asked as she started eating her breakfast.

"You could say that, yeah. I also wanna see if there's any news on the chapter back home, maybe they got something now that it appears as if we are able to do long range communications again. Thanks to you I guess." Veronica said as she jumped off the truck.

"Don't get me started. I promised Joan to help her first, then I will head back too, see if my mission's been scrubbed. Guess I'll see you soon, nice meeting you." Ashley said, giving the scribe a nod.

"Likewise. You take care and watch your friend, she seems to have a run of bad luck." She said and then turned and left.

"Guess it's just you and me now." She said to the sleeping Joan.

After finishing her breakfast and with Joan still sleeping, Ashley jumped off the truck once again to go and replenish her spent ammo from the remains of the arms merchant store. When she came back several minutes later, Joan was awake and sitting with her back leaning against the side of the truck, eating another army ration.

"Oh, you're up. How's the shoulder?" Ashley asked and climbed up, placing the new ammo with the rest of her gear.

"It's sore, but not too bad." Joan said simply.

"How's the rest of you?" Ashley asked cautiously.

Joan looked at her briefly, then focused back on her food "I don't wanna talk about it."

"I'm sorry." Ashley said, sighing.

"For what?" Joan asked, confused.

"Not getting you out earlier." Ashley said in a low tone of voice.

"Shut the fuck up!" Joan just said "It's not your fault."

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Ashley spoke up again. "I got you something to wear. It's not as good your old armor, but that one is gone."

"Yeah, they made quick work of it. Thanks, appreciate it." Joan said.

More silence followed. "Cass doesn't wanna come with us anymore, she's gonna stay here." Ashley said.

"Mmh" Was all she got in response.

"What about you?" She kept talking.

"What about me?" Joan asked, not looking up from her food.

"Still wanna go to Vegas?" Ashley asked.

"Where else would I go? We got this far without dying, didn't we?" Joan said, her voice distant, careless.

"Yeah but you…." Ashley started.

"Can we not talk?" Joan interrupted, looking at Ashley.

"Sure, sorry." Ashley said and grabbed her pistols to clean. She spent the next time cleaning all her guns to near factory condition, filling her empty magazines with ammo and putting them into her various pouches.

"When did you plan to head towards Freeside?" Joan suddenly asked.

"Depends on you, when you feel up to it." Ashley said.

"Okay, let's wait till I shook the last of the Med-X and then head out." The redhead said.

"Really? Today?" Ashley asked in surprise.

"Sure why not, no point staying here, right? And now I'm gonna see if this armor fits." Joan said and picked up the leather armor.

"I'll give you some room." Ashley said and jumped off the truck, she spotted Cass sitting in one of the tents.

"How is she?" Cass asked.

"Determined to keep going today. And right now trying on her new armor." Ashley said and walked over.

"I mean…" Cass started.

"I know what you mean, she doesn't wanna talk about it." Ashley stopped her.

"I see. So you're going today?"

"Yeah, looks like it, I think she wants to get out of here, can't blame her." Ashley said, opening a bottle of water from the counter and downing half of it.

"Still need another gun? I been thinking a bit. Staying here will let me end up just like at the Mojave Outpost, in drunken misery." Cass said.

"So, wanna come along after all, huh?" Ashley said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, rub my nose in it! Want me to come or not?" Cass said, visibly annoyed.

"Sure, welcome back to the team. Stock up on ammo and supplies, I wanna make the rest of the way to Freeside in one trip if possible." Ashley said.

They split up, Cass going to get supplies and Ashley walking back to see if Joan was done. As she rounded the truck, she saw her companion stretch her arms and legs, now dressed in the very tight fitting leather armor, she took the sight in for a moment and then shook her head.

"Does it fit?" She asked.

"It's a bit tight, but it'll do." Joan said.

"The bigger ones are at least two sizes larger, they wouldn't fit at all. But I gotta say it suits you." Ashley said. "By the way, Cass is coming with us after all."

"Nice, but I kinda expected that." Joan said.

"How so?" Ashley asked.

"Well, did you really expect she'd stay here and be miserable? I didn't. Are you ready? I wanna leave." Joan responded, strapping holsters and pouches to her new armor.

"Alright, just a second." Ashley said and did the same, holstering her pistols, sheathing her blades and slinging her rifles to their respective places.

"What happened to…what's her name? Veronica?" Joan asked.

"She went back to the Brotherhood bunker." Ashley answered.

"We going already?" Cass asked as she stepped up to them.

"Yep, all done here, time to go." Ashley said and they all started walking north, leaving the 188 trading post behind and heading towards Freeside.

They made the way in silence, the only interruptions of that being the gunfire when they shot the occasional critter on the way. They made it to the Grub'nGulp rest stop, but didn't stay around. They only picked up a few bottles of water and kept going.

"How are you doing?" Cass asked Joan, walking next to her.

"Fine." Came the simple answer.

"You been awfully quiet. Not your usually chatty self." Cass tried again.

"Don't feel like talking." Joan answered.

"You can't keep everything bottled up." Cass stated.

"I can try. Now can you please shut up? I don't want to talk." Joan said and walked a few paces in front of Cass.

"Wow…I thought you were exaggerating." Cass said to Ashley, who gave a nod in response.

"Told you so. You can't push her…not yet anyway. Unless she does something stupid because of this, you have to let her deal with it herself first." Ashley said.

After more walking through the ruins of outer Vegas, they finally came close to their destination with no further interruptions that were worth noting.

"Well this is it." Ashley stated as they reached the north entrance to Freeside. Next to it stood a group of Kings gang members, checking the party of girls out thoroughly.

"Here comes trouble." Cass mumbled under her breath as they made their way over.

"Well hello there ladies. Care for a free ride in Freeside?" One of them spoke up.

"Oh yikes, what a terrible pickup line dude." Ashley said and walked past them to the gate, closely followed by Cass.

"Oh come on sugar, I could rock your world." The guy said again, causing Ashley to chuckle. The chuckle faded as she heard the distinctive sound of a laser weapon being fired behind her. She turned around and raised her rifle, only seeing the man getting hit with several laser blasts from Joans rifle.

"Whoa." Was all Cass managed to get out while Ashley and just about everyone else were just staring.

After a few seconds, the remaining kings drew knifes and went to attack Joan, who was in the process of reloading her AER14. Ashley interfered by firing several shots over their heads, causing them to stop.

"Alright everybody, back the fuck off!" She said, training her rifle on them while Cass moved over to Joan and pulled her away.

"Come on girl, let's get you inside." She whispered.

"Okay listen guys, in her defense; she had some bad experiences with men lately, so your yacking probably wasn't the smartest thing to do." Ashley said, not lowering her rifle, training it on one the guys that tried to step closer. "And if you want to walk out of here alive, you back the fuck off, you don't bring a knife to a gunfight anyway."

"How are we supposed to know what she does with men? Doesn't give her the right to shoot one of us! But we see a lost cause, come on guys, let's go report to the King." One of them said.

As they put their knifes away and walked away, Ashley lowered her rifle and quickly went through the gate as well. She looked around and found Cass and Joan near an abandoned building. Cass looked unsure of what to say, while Joan just stared off into the distance.

Ashley walked over, dropped her rifle on the way and hit Joan across the face, grabbing her by her collar afterwards, bringing the shocked girl close to her.

"You need to get a hold of yourself you goddamn idiot! I know what they did to you and how you must feel. But if you ever, EVER do some crap like that again, I'll leave you behind with whatever it is that's pissing you off, no matter if it's fucking you or chewing your face off! Is that clear?" Ashley said, furious, releasing Joan after a few seconds.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You shot a team of NCR Troopers just like that and you're blaming ME?" Joan yelled back.

"Yeah, I shot them because they wanted to arrest us for some bullshit reason and confiscate all our stuff. You just shot a person for some harmless, albeit stupid, flirting. Besides, he wasn't even talking to you, you really need to get over yourself." Ashley said, picked up her weapon and walked away, leaving a stunned Joan and a confused Cass behind.

"Yikes. Are you alright?" Cass said to Joan, who was staring after Ashley.

"Yeah…I'm fine. I really pissed her off this time." Joan answered, a little guilt creeping into her voice.

"Damn straight. And she's right, you know?" Cass said carefully, well aware of the loaded laser weapon in the hands of the edgy woman.

"I know. I should talk to her." Joan said and started after Ashley, leaving Cass behind.

"Hey! What the hell? What's with all the walking away?" She yelled before groaning in annoyance and following them. "Man, what have I gotten myself into here?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay so here I am again...yes I am still very much alive! Sorry for the delay, here is chapter 20, enjoy!**

* * *

„Can I help you?" A woman in a labcoat asked Ashley, who was leaning against a wall, staring towards the fort in front of her.

"What? Oh, no I was just looking at the building. What is it?" Ashley said.

"It's the Old Mormon Fort, the Mojave home for the Followers of the Apocalypse. I'm Emily, I'm with them." The woman said.

"Ashley. Nice to meet you. So, what do you guys do?" Ashley asked.

"We're mostly doctors and scientists, trying to help the people in the wastes. Giving out supplies, medical care and doing research to better peoples lives. Around Freeside tho, we mostly deal with broke gamblers and drug addicts. We also give shelter to everyone who needs it." Emily said.

"Sounds pretty decent. And you don't take anything for it?" Ashley asked.

"Nope, nothing. That's what we do." Emily said, smiling.

"Well, good to know there's somewhere I can go should I come in need. But I gotta go, I see my friends have found me." Ashley said, pointing towards Joan and Cass that were walking towards them.

"The door to the fort is always open. Take care!" Emily said and walked away.

"There you are! Look Ashley, I'm sorry, I was…." Joan started as she walked up.

"Save it girl, it's alright. You've been through a lot. I just need you to try and not snap, alright?" Ashley said, giving her friend a hint of a smile.

"Oh…had my heart set on apologizing….but thanks, I'll try and keep it together from now on." Joan said, blushing.

"Good, now that you're done, let's see if we can't get into the Strip and get us a hotel room. How are we caps-wise? The price for a doorpass is 2000." Cass said.

"Is that each? I've got 4000 on me." Ashley said.

"No, last I've been it didn't matter. The fee is only so they know you have some money and don't go in broke. You don't have to actually pay it, you just have to show it."

"Alright, in that case we're good. Let's go!" Ashley said.

They walked through Freeside towards the Strip Gate, getting very looks from the people around them, especially members of the King's gang. Ashley kept her rifle hugged close to her in case she would need it.

They approached the gate and one of the three Securitrons rolled up to them.

"Welcome citizen. You are not yet licensed to visit New Vegas, I'm gonna have to see the entrance fee of 3000 caps." The gatekeeper said.

"3000? When did you raise that?" Cass asked.

"Just recently Ma'am." The gatekeeper said.

"Alright what the hell, here we go….3000 caps." Ashley said, starting to count out the caps.

"Which one of you will be entering New Vegas then?" the Gatekeeper asked in it's monotone voice.

"Excuse me?" Ashley asked.

"3000 caps will only buy a pass for one person Ma'am." The gatekeeper responded.

"WHAT?" Ashley said shocked.

"We changed that recently Ma'am." The robot said.

"Well I don't have 9000 caps." Ashley said, sounding defeated.

"Then I would suggest either one of you will enter, or you leave the area." The gatekeeper said, sounding a little firmer.

"Alright, let's get out of here guys." Ashley said and the group backed away from the gatekeepers and walked a few meters.

"Now aint that something? What now?" Ashley asked.

"I can't believe they changed it like that! These idiots!" Cass shouted.

"Right Cass, but that doesn't help, what do we do now?" Ashley asked.

"Well, I know Mick and Ralphs sell passports. I know they've been 500 caps, but I don't know if they raised the prize as well. Normally I'd suggest going to the King and suck up to him, he can pull strings and get you the passport for free. But I'm guessing that ship has sailed." Cass said and shot a glance towards Joan, who looked away guiltily.

"Well okay, at least we've got an option. Let's go shopping." Ashley said.

"There's one other chance. We could try to convince the NCR to let us use the Monorail from McCarran, leads right inside the Strip." Joan pitched in.

"Good idea, but no. I'd rather hook to get the money, than suck up to the NCR. Now Cass, what places offer rooms around here?" Ashley said.

"Not a lot of options. Only the Atomic Wrangler offers rental rooms, and that's a sleazy place. We could bunk with the Followers or find something outside Freeside." Cass said.

"Okay, let's split up. Cass, you go to Mick and Ralphs, see about those passports. Joan, can you go to the Followers and find out if they have room for us to use?" Ashley said. "Oh and Cass, since you're probably the one of us who'll need them the most for those passports, you take the caps, I'll keep a few on hand. If you can, buy those passports." She said and handed Cass the majority of her bottle caps.

"Sure, but what are you gonna do?" Cass said.

"I'll take a look around Freeside, get a handle on the situation around here, I like to be prepared."

"Alright then, meet back here in an hour?" Cass asked.

"Sure, see you then." Ashley said and then they all walked away in different directions.

* * *

Cass walked down the street, passing several junkies asking for drugs and money. She quickly entered Mick and Ralphs Store and looked around, finding Ralph sorting some things on the shelves.

"Hey there!" She said.

"Hi, how can I help you?" He said, turning towards her.

"You could tell me what the deal is with the passports for the Strip, they raised the price." Cass said.

"Yeah I know. And sorry, but we can't help you. We got a lot of heat from the Securitrons so we had to stop selling them." Ralph said with an apologetic look.

"Crap. Any idea where I can get one without selling myself as a slave?" Cass said with a chuckle.

"Well, I know the Kings still hand out their fakes, I wouldn't recommend it…but in a pinch." Ralph said.

"Okay, already ruled that out. Thanks anyway." Cass said and turned to leave.

"Well that was time well spent." She sighed as she stepped out and walked towards the Old Mormon Fort.

* * *

Joan pushed the large doors of the fort open and walked in, looking around, taking the sights in. It was depressing for her, seeing the sick people and junkies the Followers had taken in.

"Can I help you?" A women asked suddenly, causing Joan to jump.

"Oi! Sorry, yeah, you can. My friends and I are looking for a place to sleep until we earned enough money to get into the strip." Joan said.

"Of course. But we are not a hotel, in fact, we don't even have free beds, only tents, you'd have to use sleeping bags or something."

"Okay, I see. Well I'll talk to them and see what's what. I'm gonna get back to you later." Joan said.

"Anytime, I'm Julie Farkas by the way." Julie said.

Joan nodded and left, running into Cass on her way out.

"Oh hey, you're back quickly. Any luck?" She asked.

"Nope, nothing. They don't sell passes anymore. Guess we're gonna have to bite the bullet anf buy full price. How about beds?" Cass said.

"No beds, but we could one of their tents, better than sleeping out in the street I guess." Joan said as they walked out and back to the spot where they started. "Let's just wait for Ashley and then we'll see."

* * *

"My God, this place really is a shithole." Ashley muttered as she walked down the street, her hand hovering close to her holster, suspicious of the various people following her with their eyes.

She decided to check out the Atomic Wrangler first, the sleazy place, as Cass described it. But those places were usually the ones with the most information, so it was probably a good place to start.

As soon as she entered the building, she knew what Cass meant, cause the first thing she noticed were the half-naked dancers on the stage. The second thing were the obvious sex noises coming from upstairs.

"Lovely." She mumbled and walked over to the bar with a man in a suit behind it.

"Hello there lady, I hope you're not here to cause any trouble with that arsenal of yours." He said, pointing to her guns.

"Don't worry, I only use those if I'm provoked." Ashley responded as she sat down.

"Okay then, welcome to the Atomic Wrangler. I'm James, what can I get you?" James asked.

"I'll take a whiskey." Ashley said and got as comfortable on the barstool as she could. She had done information gathering many times before, she knew this could take a while.

"Sure thing, here you go, that's five caps." James said and put a glass of whiskey in front of her.

"So, James, do you offer anything other than drinks?" Ashley said, as nice as possible.

"What do you mean?" The barkeeper said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm looking for some information." Ashley said and downed her drink, waving the empty glass towards him "and keep 'em coming, wouldya?"

She noticed a women in a suit very similar to the one James was wearing in the room behind the bar. She was looking at her, like she was checking her out, then she talked to what appeared to be a guard. Ashley pondered that for a second, but snapped out of it as said women walked behind the bar.

"James, your shift is done, I'll take over." She said.

"Oh…alright, thanks Francine. Oh and make sure to supply this lady here with enough whiskey. See you later!" James said and walked away.

"Will do." Francine said and grabbed a bottle of whiskey to fill up Ashleys glass.

"So what were you and my brother discussing before I came?" She asked Ashley.

"I was just asking for some information." Ashley said, sipping her new drink.

"What kind of information exactly?" Francine asked.

"Anything really. But specifically about Freeside. For starters, have you ever heard of Talon Company?" Ashley asked, deciding to be bold and just go for it.

"As a matter of fact yes, I did. One of those guys was here recently, jabbering something about using our casino as a "base of operations" or some crap. Told him no and he left pretty quickly." Francine said.

"Okay, so they've been rooting around, good to know. So what about Freeside, anything special around here?" Ashley kept asking.

"Well, the van Graffs are doing surprisingly well lately, but that was to be expected sooner or later, weapon business is always hot, especially energy weapons." Francine said.

"Energy Weapons?" Ashley asked, her interest piqued.

"Yeah, the van Graffs run the Silver Rush across the street from here, selling all kinds of high-grade energy weapons." Francine said.

"That's interesting, thanks." Ashley said, and made a mental note to check that place out later.

"I take it you're not from around here?" Francine asked.

"Yeah, I just came here a few days ago from…" She was interrupted by a stinging pain in her neck. She whipped around and drew her pistol but it slipped from her hand and landed on the floor, clattering loudly. Her vision got blurry and she reached for her neck, finding a syringe still stuck there.

"Oh for god's sake…" Was the last thing she mumbled before unconsciousness took over and she slumped to the ground.

* * *

**Yes, I know it's mean to give you guys such a short chapter after the long delay, especially one with a cliffhanger. But I decided to at least give you something since GamesCom is coming up (Skyrim, anyone?) and it's gonna be a crazy busy time for me. I'll try to get the next one out as soon as I can, promised!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Well what can I say? This went faster than planned, but everything went smoothly work-wise, so here it is...Chapter 21, this one is also longer! Thank you all for the reviews.**

* * *

„Where the hell did she go?" Joan asked as they walked around Freeside.

"How the hell would I know? Don't take it out on me!" Cass responded angrily.

"I'm sorry, but we gotta find her, she attracts trouble." Joan said.

"Tell me about it. I bet you she's in there getting drunk." Cass said just as they reached the Atomic Wrangler and went inside.

"I hope so. My god what a shithole." Joan said, earning a glare from the Barkeeper.

"You stay here, don't move, the people that come here might get bad ideas if they see a pretty thing like you." Cass said and went to the bar, not noticing the glare of death Joan gave her.

"Hey James." She greeted the man behind the bar.

"Cass! What brings you here? And what can I do for you?" He asked.

"Strictly business today James, sorry. I'm looking for a friend…she went missing somewhere in Freeside. Tall, blonde, wearing combat clothes in pre-war camouflage, enough weapons to equip an entire squad of troopers." Cass said, trying to explain Ashley without a picture on hand, right away noticing the look of surprise in James' face.

"Oh…that one….umm, yeah, she was here alright. She had a drink, squeezed some information out of me and left pretty quickly." James said.

"Really? What kind of information?" Cass asked suspiciously.

"Well…." He paused "she wanted to know about the Brotherhood of Steel in this region, saying she wants to go after them." He finished.

"Hmm alright, guess I can work with that, thanks. By the way, nice gun you got there." Cass said, pointing at the gun holstered on James' hip.

"Oh yeah, damn right! Forty-five automatic, bought it from the Gun Runners not long ago." He lied.

"Gotta have to see if they have another one like that. I gotta go James, take care, next time I'll get a drink!" Cass said and quickly walked towards the door, nodding towards Joan to follow her.

"So?" The redhead asked her.

"Bad news. They got Ashley." Cass said.

"How do you know? Who has her? Why are we standing here?" Joan said very quickly, starting back towards the door, but being held back by Cass.

"Hold it! Don't be stupid, we gotta plan this. He told me she was there and asked for information about the Brotherhood, which is bullshit of course. Also, he had a .45 auto holstered, it looked squeaky clean. Those guns are fucking rare and clean ones are damn near not existent. The only person who has…or had…one is Ashley. Also, did you not notice the guard by the door? It was one of those Talon guys. I'm guessing they got the jump on her when she went in. I doubt they're holding her…." She paused as a man left the Wrangler, looking at them without blinking, but walking away.

"What the hell was this guys problem?" Cass said before continuing. "Anyway, I doubt they're holding her here, would be pretty stupid to keep a hostage like her in a frequented casino. My first guess where they have her would be that fucking Vault they held you in. From what Ashley told me she didn't completely clean it out." Cass said.

"How can you be sure?" Joan asked.

"I can't. But it's the smartest guess." Cass said, shrugging.

"So what now?" Joan asked impatiently.

"Well, let's go check out that Vault, maybe we can see something." Cass said and they started their walk back to where they came from.

* * *

Ashley woke up to and, for her, totally annoying pain in her shoulder. She groaned and noticed she had something in her mouth. Her heart picked up as she remembered what happened and noticed where the pain came from. Her arms were roughly tied behind her back and she was gagged. Also she noticed the complete absence of any clothes.

_'Fuck!'_ She thought and looked around, noticing she was in a way too familiar room, she was tied up in the same room she had rescued Joan from not too long ago, even the dead body of the merchant was still there.

_'You gotta be fucking kidding me! Great Mitchell…you just can't keep your stupid ass out of trouble!'_ She turned to look in the other direction and saw a Talon merc standing in the doorway, grinning at her. She remember her state of total nakedness and couldn't help but blush, as the guy called out.

"Hey guys, guess who's awake!"

Three more mercs came into the room, standing there and looking at her.

"Isn't it great how bounties work all the fucking time? Garret gave her up so easily, I can't believe it. But now…who gets her first?" One of them said.

"I don't know, but we have to decide fast, before the commander gets her, he's gonna want her to himself, he's got a score to settle." Another said.

"What? Jabsco is coming here?" The other asked, kinda shocked.

Ashley closed her eyes and groaned when Jabsco was mentioned, this couldn't end well, she and the Brotherhood had driven Commander Jabsco and his Talons out of the Capital Wasteland by force and he didn't take it lightly.

"Okay tell you what. John, the bounty was your idea, so you get first dibs. But keep her arms bound, that one is really feisty. We just have to hurry this up." The third one said.

The first one, apparently named John, walked up to her with a dirty grin, unbuckling his belt. Ashley hardly looked him square in the eyes, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of looking scared.

"Oh look guys, she's trying to kill me with looks!" He called out, laughing. Ashley closed her eyes and just prepared for what was going to happen.

* * *

"Three guards, damn it, gonna be tough to get there without being seen." Cass said and put the binoculars down, looking at Joan. "Ideas?"

"No, not from the top of my….hey do you hear that?" She said, motioning around them.

"Hear what?" Cass asked, slightly annoyed.

"Someone's talking…over there." Joan said and pointed to the right, closer to the entrance to the Vault.

Cass took the binoculars and looked.

"Well I'll be damned. It's the guy that left the wrangler right after us. You know, the one that gave us that weird look? But he's wearing some kind of heavy armor now. He's doing the same thing we do. He's alone, who the hell is he talking to?" Cass said.

"If you shut up I might hear it." Joan said and then went on repeating everything she could hear clearly.

"Something about…three hostiles…small arms…approach from north-east…smoke…..:What the hell is this guy talking about?" Joan said and looked at Cass, who shrugged in response.

"Let's wait a bit and see, maybe there were guys with Stealth Boys or something." She finally said and turned her binoculars back and forth between the Talons and the stranger.

After about five Minutes they heard a familiar buzzing sound, getting closer and louder.

"Vertibirds? Since when does the NCR fly Vertibird training over the Mojave?" Joan asked.

"They don't. He what is the guy doing now?" She said as she watched the man draw a grenade, pull the pin and throw it in the open in front of him. She waited for the explosion, but there wasn't one, instead green smoke formed where the grenade landed.

"Well fuck me…it's a signal." She said and turned the binoculars back towards the Vault entrance, where the guards where now alarmed cause they saw the smoke as well. During all that, Joan dug out her own binoculars and turned them towards the buzzing sound that got louder now.

"No yellow….no NCR markings, that thing is plain silver." She said as she finally spotted the flying machine.

"One of them ran inside! And the others are getting active." Cass said. "And now they're shooting at it, what's there problem? Vertibirds are simple transports."

The Vertibird flew right over the green smoke the stranger had thrown before and flared upwards, almost coming to a halt, suddenly it turned its nose towards the two guards and opened up with its nose mounted heavy gatling laser.

"Holy shit! Did you see that?" Cass yelled out.

"So much for transport huh? Who the hell are these guys?" Joan asked, watching the spectacle as well. The Vertibird now hovered high above the scene, apparently covering the area.

"Hello ladies." A male voice suddenly said behind them. They both jumped and turned around, seeing the same man they had observed earlier, but he held his hands slightly up, not holding a weapon. "I know you are the ones asking for a tall blonde in the Atomic Wrangler earlier. We can help each other out."

"Who the hell are you?" Cass asked.

"My name is not important, as for who WE are…." He said and pointed to a small emblem painted on the chest of his armor. Showing the Brotherhood logo that had the gear-wheels replaced by a lion. "Brotherhood of Steel."

"That's not the Brotherhood logo." Joan said.

"Not exactly." The man said. "But enough of that, I think we all share the interest in getting Ashley Mitchell out of that Vault."

Joan and Cass looked at each other, finally Joan said "I guess."

"Good then, follow me." He said and then reached to his belt, taking out a device that neither of the women had ever seen in reality before, only on pictures. He was holding a pre-war radio and he was using it.

"I've got them, area clear, proceed with landing, Gallows out." He said. As soon as he finished, the Vertibird came lower and went into a hover about 30 feet off the ground. The back hatch opened and a rope was thrown out. Joan and Cass watched in awe as eight persons in heavy power armor rappelled down and spread out on the ground. After the last man, a heavy crate was lowered and the rope cut. The hatch closed and the Vertibird flew away, heading west.

"My god….who are you people?" Joan asked in awe.

"As I said, Brotherhood." He said before giving a hand signal to the intimidating figures ahead who lowered their weapons and gave thumbs up in return.

"Sentinel Lyons, I've got the two I told you about earlier, we've got the same interest." Gallows said.

Cass and Joan watched for any reaction, as it was impossible to tell a difference between the Brotherhood soldiers besides their slightly varying heights. And one of them walked up to them and detached his helmet. To their surprise, it was not a him, before them stood an attractive blonde woman.

"Hello, I'm Sentinel Lyons, we're with the Brotherhood of Steel, I'm guessing Gallows here was the strong and silent type as always? So I think introductions are in order. We're the Lyon's Pride, a special unit within the Brotherhood. Knight Captain Mitchell is a member of this unit and Gallows saw her being dragged away by Talons. May I ask who you are?" Lyons said.

"Joan and Cass, we've been travelling with Ashley for a little while now. But how…and why are you guys here, I thought she was the only one sent over here?" Cass said.

"She was, at first. We were on our own mission further east, but after the coms went up we heard about the crash and been sent to retrieve her. But enough talk, let's get to business….Pride, briefing!" She said and shouted the last part. The soldiers all came a little closer, but still watched their surroundings.

"Okay, here's the situation. KC Mitchell is being held by Talon Company in the Vault back there, we are here to get her out. Colvin, Dusk, you look for overwatch positions and keep an eye on the field behind us." She said to the two soldiers with the sniper rifles, who nodded and jogged off.

"Gallows, I need you guarding the door, keep the civilians with you." She refered to the light armored man as well as Cass and Joan.

"Sergeant Thompson and Initiate Procter, you stay behind us and take the gear with you. Glade is gonna make a path for all of us through there. Vargas and I will stay directly behind him, Kodiak is gonna cover us to the rear." She finished giving out orders and put her helmet back on, her voice sounding different through the speakers of the helmet. "Let's do this!"

The unit went into the ordered formation. Glade, who hefted a large gatling laser with ease, took point and entered the cave. Cass and Joan couldn't see past the door but immediately heard gunfire. The Brotherhood unit returned the favor with heavy energy weapons fire and after they went through the Vault door it went quiet and all they could do was wait with the silent Gallows.

* * *

She would be getting raped and then killed, she just knew it. The merc was almost done getting out of his pants, after that nothing could stop him. She braced herself mentally, trying to think of something nice….and her thoughts, for some reason, drifted to Joan. Suddenly there was shouting in the hallway.

"Everybody grab your guns! We've got a situation, a serious one!" Someone yelled.

"Shit, fuck! The merc in front of her cursed and pulled his pants up. "Don't run away baby, I'll be back!" Two of them ran outside, one stayed behind as a guard, he closed and locked the door and positioned himself on the opposite wall with his assault rifle.

_'That was close…the amount of luck I have is incredible, I wonder what's going on.…'_ Ashley thought and tried to calm down.

She waited…and listened to what was going on outside, at first she only heard mercs shouting at each other, soon followed by gunfire. But above she was able to hear out laser fire and it wasn't just a little. She heard voices on the other side of the door, they sounded familiar to her, yet they were kinda mechanical.

"Clear! Check the rooms, I'll take the one at the end of the hall!" One of them shouted. Ashley glanced over towards the merc who was bracing himself.

She heard something pound against the door and after a few seconds there was a tremendous explosion, blowing the door from its frame and producing a lot of smoke, dust and rubble. The merc started firing his rifle into it, hoping to hit something with his hail of bullets. All he got in return were several laser blasts, most of them hitting him, killing him instantly.

Ashley expected to be either killed as well, or taken hostage by someone else, but what she saw made her squeal in joy, causing a weird sound due to the gag in her mouth. A Brotherhood Paladin stepped through the door, quickly checked the room and then kneeled down in front of her, taking the gag out, not saying a word, he also cut the rope off her wrists and ankles. Finally, the paladin reached up and took off the heavy helmet.

"Sarah?" Ashley gasped as she saw who was underneath it, only now she realized the unusual power armor and the emblem painted on it.

"The one and only. Hang on a second Captain." She said, then pushed a button hanging on a cable from the collar of her armor "I got her, do not enter the room! Thompson, put the gear down in front of the door! Lyons out." She released the button and turned back to Ashley.

"You alright soldier?" She asked as she looked her squadmate over.

"As alright as I can be. They didn't do anything yet, awesome timing by the way." Ashley said and sat up, reaching for a blanket next to her to at least cover herself up.

"Glad we came in time. How'd they get you?" Sarah asked.

"Someone rammed a syringe into my neck, that's the last thing I remember." Ashley said, touching the needle mark on her neck.

"Here it is Ma'am!" Knight Sergeant Thompson said from the hallway.

"Got your gear here." Sarah said as she went out and dragged the heavy crate inside the room.

"Oh thank god!" Ashley jumped up and opened the crate, taking in the sight of her personal Mk4 advanced power armor.

She was the first one to ever get one of those, a heavy improvement from the Mk3 they had gotten from the Enclave. They were rare, only the Pride and the elders personal protection detail were issued with them after her, since they were hard and expensive to produce. They were made from a special composite armor that made them smaller and lighter, allowing more agility but still retaining the armor protection of the Mk 3 model.

First it took her a little while to get her under-armor suit on, produced specifically for the advanced power armor models, it allowed better connectivity between armor and wearer, but was skin tight and therefor difficult to put on. When she finished she put on the armor itself, walking a few steps to get used to it again. Finally she took her helmet and put it on, reaching into the crate, she took her gauss rifle out, she loaded it and gave her commanding officer a nod.

"Let's fuck this place up, shall we?"

"Oh yeah, that's the plan." Sarah said, smiling as she put her helmet on as well. The walked out of the room and joined up with the rest of the pride.

"Status?" Sarah asked around.

"All visible Talons dispatched. I suggest we get out of here and blow this place up." Vargas answered.

"Good idea, let's get going, Glade you take…." Sarah started.

"Mind if I take point Sentinel?" Ashley interrupted.

"Not at all KC, lead the way." The Sentinel said.

Ashley raised her weapon and led the group towards the exit.

* * *

Joan and Cass said a few meters away from the cave door that led to the Vault entrance, waiting for any sign of movement. Gallows was standing in front of the door like a statue.

"This sucks, why can't we go in there with them?" Joan complained.

"Joan, they got armor and weapons like I've never seen before, I guess we'd be more a hindrance than help." Cass reasoned.

Just then, Gallows moved, he was turning towards the door with a questioning look and raised his rifle. But instead of moving closer to it, he dove to the side, just in time to avoid several bullets impacting in the door, some of them going through. He raised his weapon to fire back, but he didn't need to. The door was penetrated by a single, heavy projectile, followed by two more in rapid succession. The gunfire ended. The door was kicked down and the Lyons Pride moved out of the cave.

Cass and Joan rushed over, wondering where Ashley was.

"Where is she?" Joan screamed. The soldiers looked at her briefly before walking away. Only one of them turned towards her and stayed, looking at them, holding a weapon that was still smoking, apparently the one who just made quick work of the Talons in the cave.

"What? Where is she? You went in there to get her out." Cass said. The soldier nodded.

"What are you, a mute? Talk!" Joan yelled and stepped close to him, pounding his armor with her fist. The soldier grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her

"Stop." A mechanic voice came from the speaker. Joan stopped, confused.

"What the…Ashley?" Joan whispered.

The answer was a nod, she was released and the figure in front of her reached up and lifted the helmet off, revealing Ashleys face, grinning.

"Scared ya, didn't I?" The blonde said, slightly chuckling. The chuckle was mirrored by the assembled Pride behind them, as they were watching.

"You're alright!" Joan squealed and jumped at her, hugging, barely able to reach around the heavy armor.

Ashley laughed and hugged the redhead, being careful not to squeeze too hard.

"Yeah….I'm fine." She said.


	22. Chapter 22

**Two weeks again...I just cant get a steady update rhythm in. *sighs***

**Anyway, here's chapter 22, hope you enjoy it. And this time I wont make any promises as to when the next one is coming, since I really can't say, hope you can forgive me. *smiles very innocently***

* * *

„What the hell happened?" Joan asked, looking at Ashley sternly.

"I went into the Atomic Wrangler to get information and someone jumped me from behind, jabbing a syringe into my neck. I blacked out almost instantly, hardcore stuff. Apparently they dragged me here. And you know the rest." Ashley answered.

"Did they do anything else to you?" Cass asked curiously.

"Nope, the rescue timing was just right, one of them was just about to use his dick on me." Ashley said with a chuckle.

"How's that funny?" Joan asked.

"I don't know, guess it's not. But you should've seen his face when they got called away. Priceless. Anyway, thanks for coming here to get me out." Ashley said.

"No problem, you did the same for me…and you came alone." Joan said, smiling.

"Yeah, but I'm badass." Ashley said with a slick grin.

"Speaking of which…." Joan started, ignoring Ashleys comment "did anybody ever tell you how cool you look in that armor? I mean, I thought you looked badass in your combat armor, but this beats it."

"Yeah, I've been told. I like wearing it, too. But for many things it's just impractical, so I usually only break it out if I expect the shit to hit the fan." Ashley said.

"Well with you that's kinda all the time, ain't it?" Cass said, grinning.

"Good one!" Ashley said, giving Cass a playful punch to the shoulder.

"Can I wear it?" Joan asked, looking Ashleys armor over.

"What? The armor? Nobody can just wear it without some training. We could try later. But now, important question, where's the rest of my stuff? I woke up naked and my things weren't in there." Ashley said.

"Garret's got it." Cass said.

"You sure?" Ashley asked.

"Well he's got your forty-five at least, that's what I saw on him, the rest I don't know." Cass said.

"Okay, wait a minute please." Ashley said and walked over towards the pride who were doing a little debriefing.

"Hey Sentinel, a word with you?" Ashley said, deciding to go formal while amongst the unit.

"What's up KC, something wrong?" Sarah asked.

"In private, Ma'am?" Ashley asked.

"Sure." Sarah said and they walked a few steps "What's up Ash?"

"How would you feel about a little Brotherhood forward outpost in Freeside?" Ashley asked.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked.

"The Garrets in the Atomic Wrangler put me here and still have my stuff. So I'm gonna take the place down anyway, might as well use the vacant space for something useful." Ashley said, giving her commander a grin.

"NCR wouldn't like that too much…." Sarah thought out loud, causing Ashleys grin to widen.

"You're reading my mind." She said.

"Okay, alright. The bird is on the way back here, we got some long range coms in there. I'm gonna get clearance on that, just to be safe, alright?" Sarah said.

"I'm fine with that, thanks." Ashley said and saluted.

"Stuff the saluting girl, you know I hate that." Sarah said, winking at Ashley.

"Aye aye, Ma'am." Ashley said in a mock tone and went back to Cass and Joan, who were talking to each other.

"And see the weapons they carry, good lord….NCR is gonna run away crying if they see that." Joan said just as Ashley rejoined them.

"You bet your sweet ass they are!" She said.

"You're back, what did you do over there?" Cass asked.

"Asking my CO if they're gonna join me in taking down the Wrangler and the Garrets with it." Ashley said.

"CO?" Joan asked.

"WHAT? Take down the Wrangler?" Cass said.

"Yeah, you don't mess with a knight of the BOS and get away with it. Oh and, CO means commanding officer Joan." Ashley answered.

"Oh, I see. And what does…what they call you…KC, mean?" Joan asked.

"Knight Captain, my rank." Ashley said, patting the small insignia on her shoulder.

"So how are you planning on taking them down? And what do you think the NCR will think about this?" Cass asked, not convinced.

"NCR will be pissed, but they can kiss our asses. And as for the how: Go there, knock on the door and ask them to give up. If they don't, clean the place out, easy peasy. Oh and, get ready, we got Vertibird extraction coming." Ashley said.

"Wait, Vertibird? We're going in a Vertibird?" Joan said.

"Sure, wanna walk or what? I prefer flying." Ashley said.

"Sweet, always wanted to fly in one of these badboys." Cass said.

"Inbound." Gallows suddenly said, putting his radio down.

"Pop smoke!" Sarah ordered. Two of the paladins walked out a bit and tossed more green smoke in the area to mark the spot.

A few moments later, the Vertibird came buzzing over the rocks the Vault was built into, it soared to a halt and slowly came down, dropping its landing gear and setting down.

"Wow, they look even bigger up close." Joan observed.

"Okay, everyone in there, let's go!" The crewman standing on the open hatch said.

The entire group entered the Vertibird, the Paladins and Knights all standing up and holding onto a rail in the top of the bird. Only Joan and Cass were sitting down on the benches.

"Why aren't you sitting down?" Joan yelled over the loud engines.

"Because it's not really comfortable to sit with this armor." Vargas answered.

The Vertibird slowly lifted up and turned towards Freeside, it wouldn't be a long flight.

"Alright, we've got clearance. Black," Sarah said and turned towards the pilot "set us down in or close to Freeside, we got something to do."

"Roger that, won't be long, don't get comfy." The pilot said and steered the helicopter towards Freeside.

After just a few minutes they reached their destination and the Bird approached Freeside for landing.

"Try to get off fast, don't wanna stick around here for too long." The crewman in the back said to Sarah who was getting ready.

The bird landed soon after and the hatch opened. The entire group quickly left the vehicle and it started again, buzzing off into the distance. Sarah turned towards the group and began to spoke, while curious Freesiders were watching the entire situation.

"Okay here's the deal. You all know that the Brotherhood doesn't let people get away that hurt us in any way. So the Garrets got it coming. But if we really want to settle into the Atomic Wrangler, we can't just walk around here shooting people, we need to establish some groundwork. That said, Vargas, you take Gallows and check out the Silver Rush, if we establish some kind of agreement with them, our supply in energy weapons would be secured. Kodiak, you'll inform the Followers of the situation and I will talk to the Kings, bring them up to speed. Glade, Thompson, Procter, you're under command of Mitchell for now, aid her in the primary mission at the Atomic Wrangler. Resolve it peacefully if at all possible. If not, lethal force is not a problem. You all got that?" She finished her monologue.

Everyone acknowledged their orders and walked off to their assignments. Ashley turned towards Joan and Cass, who got left out.

"You follow me, but try to stay behind us, remember, we've got the armor." She said as she put her helmet on. "And now let's go."

They followed Vargas and Gallows, who were walking towards the Silver Rush in the same direction. The Freesiders walked out of their way, looking at them with a mix of fear and excitement.

As they reached the door of the Atomic Wrangler, they all did one last weapons check, nodded at each other and went in. Glade stayed close to Ashley while the rest of the group was spreading out through the casino, keeping their weapons lowered, but ready.

Ashley stepped up to the bar, where the Garret twins were looking at her wide-eyed.

"Hello, nice to see you two again." She said through the speakers of her helmet.

"What the hell do you guys want?" Francine asked.

"Oh, you don't recognize me? You break my heart, I thought you'd remember the people you have drugged and taken away." Ashley said.

"Oh fuck…it's you! You're Brotherhood?" James asked, looking at her in horror.

"Oh gosh…what gave it away? Anyway…it doesn't matter. Your business here is done, we're taking over. Gather your things and leave now if you want to live." Ashley said seriously.

"You're kidding, right?" Francine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"On the contrary." Ashley simply said.

"You can go fuck yourself!" James said and drew the pistol from his holster. He brought it up and shot at Ashleys head. The bullet harmlessly pinged off the metal.

"You dare to shoot at me with my own gun?" Ashley said and raised her gauss rifle to the level of James' head. His eyes widened in terror as Ashley squeezed the trigger. The high-speed projectile penetrated clear through the man's skull and he fell to the ground, blood pooling around his head. Francine screamed in anger and raised her own pistol, just to get a laser blast right to her forehead. She too, fell down, dead. Ashley turned around to see who had fired the shot and saw Joan with her laser rifle raised.

"Nice shot!" Ashley commented, getting a grin from Joan.

"I'm getting better!" Joan said.

A few guards rushed into the room with shotguns, but Glade pointed his heavy gatling laser towards them.

"I'd think twice before trying anything stupid." He said coldly. The guards looked at the heavy weapon and the armor of their opponent and dropped their guns.

"And now leave the building." Glade said.

"That goes for everyone else as well, leave the building NOW!" Thompson said loudly. The guards, employees and gamblers that were left in the casino hurried out of the building, some of them even running, too scared to think twice about leaving.

"Well I'd say that went as smoothly as it could." Ashley said after looking around. She pushed a button on the side of her helmet, then saying "Sentinel Lyons? We cleared the Wrangler, the Garrets are…gone, the building is clear, we can move in." After a few moments of silence she said "Alright." And released the button.

"Okay, Thompson and Procter, guard the entrance until the rest of the unit gets here. Glade, you can take a look around, see what we actually have, rooms and such. And I will get my stuff. Oh and Cass, would you do me a favor and check how many caps are in the cashiers office?" Ashley said, and then vaulted over the bar to retrieve her pistol from the dead Garret.

"Copy that." The three soldiers responded.

"Sure thing." Was Cass' answer.

"And what do I do?" Joan asked.

"You're coming with me, you wanted to try on the armor, didn't you?" Ashley said. She then snatched the key from James' pocket and climbed back over the bar. "Come on, I guess his room is somewhere in the back."

They walked through a door and checked the hallway for the right room, when they found it, Ashley unlocked the door and they walked in.

"Well, figures that the owner would have a nice room." Ashley said after looking around. She took off her helmet and tossed it onto the nearby bed. "Let's find my stuff so I can get changed."

"I'd check the closets first." Joan said and walked over to the bed, she was curious as to how heavy the power helmet might be.

Ashley opened one of the big closets and found her gear neatly stacked on the bottom. "Bingo, got it all."

"Yikes!" She heard Joan say and turned around to see her friend with the power helmet on her head, causing her to laugh.

"Damn girl….you have no idea how stupid you look like this! For that helmet to look okay you really need the entire armor, you know?"

"Well then, take it off and let me try!" Joan said.

"Eager to get in my pants, huh?" Ashley chuckled and tapped some things on her pip-boy, turning the armor off and disconnecting it.

The first thing she took off, were the armored sleeves of the suit, she set them down before she pulled the heavy torso piece over her head.

"I hate getting those off…" Ashley muttered as she sat down on the bed and lifted her legs to push the leg pieces off, including the armored boots.

"Yeah, looks like it's a lot of work. Is it as much of a pain in the ass to get it on?" Joan asked, watching the scene with interest.

"You have no idea, it's even more of a pain." Ashley answered and groaned in relief as she finally got everything off. She stood up and stretched her limbs, the under-armor suit tightly hugging to her body.

"Wow…" Joan mumbled, staring at Ashley.

"Wow what?" Ashley asked, slightly confused.

"You really went all out sexy with those suits, huh?" Joan said, not taking her eyes off the blonde woman.

Ashley looked down and remembered that the practical under-armor suits were really tight bodysuits. She blushed and squirmed a bit.

"Oh well…umm….I don't know. You still wanna try on the armor?" She quickly said, trying to change the topic.

"No, I think I'll take a pass on that…" Joan said, slowly walking closer to Ashley.

"Okay…so…you wanna wait downstairs till I'm done…" Ashley said as Joan got very close now.

"No…I really like where I am right now." Joan whispered and closed the last gap, pressing her lips on Ashleys.


	23. Chapter 23

**Here is chapter 23! Hope the wait didnt kill you all. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ashley was too stunned to react at all, she just stood there while her friend kissed her. The rational part of her brain told her to stop this right now and maybe slap Joan for doing this, but the rest of her body told that part to go to hell.

After a few second she snapped out of it, wrapped her arms around Joan and just kissed back, causing a happy purr from the redhead.

Suddenly the door opened and initiate Procter barged in.

"Captain Mitchell, I'm supposed to tell you….whoa…." She paused as she saw the two women in front of her.

Ashley and Joan broke apart, with Joan blushing and Ashley glaring at the initiate.

"What is it initiate? I'm sure you weren't supposed to tell me whoa." Ashley said.

"Um…no, of course not. I'm supposed to tell you that Sentinel Lyons is here now and you should come down when you're ready." Procter said.

"Thank you, I'll be right down." Ashley said and turned towards her gear. "Oh and, Initiate?" She said.

"Yes Ma'am?" Procter asked.

"If you tell anybody about what you just saw, I will make sure you stay an initiate for the rest of your life, are we clear?" Ashley said without looking back.

"Yes Ma'am, got it!" Procter said and left the room, closing the door.

"Well I guess I'll head down, wanna come?" Ashley said as she slid her combat boots on, not bothering to tie the laces.

"No, I think I'll stay here until you get back, we gotta talk." Joan said.

"Gotcha! I'll be back in a little." Ashley said, planted a quick kiss on Joans cheek and rushed out towards the ground floor.

"What's with you?" She got asked by Cass, who was passing by in the hallway, a large bag in her hand that made the obvious of caps jiggling.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"What do I mean? You look all hot and bothered…and didn't you want to change? And where the hell's Joan?" Cass asked.

Ashley sighed, then shook her head. "Later Cass, I gotta go down for a debriefing, gonna be up in a few minutes."

"Alright, fine with me. By the way, your friend…what's her name?...gave us a nice cut, got about 5000 caps here.

"Nice, see you in a few!" Ashley said and walked down the last stairs.

"There you are, finally! Didn't you wanna change?" Sarah asked as Ashley walked through the door.

"Not important. So what's going on?" Ashley asked.

"Well I've spoken to the Kings, they're not too thrilled about it, bit accepting, they don't have a choice anyway. The van Graffs are not gonna give us any discounts, but they say we will have priority on new gear. So they will only sell to the public, what we don't take. I've sent Gallows out to bring the same question to the Gun Runners." Sarah said.

"Doesn't sound too bad. What about the outpost?"

"I radioed home. My father is pleased, they're packing up most of the Vertibirds now, equipment and personell. I've also spoken to General Dekker of the Midwest Brothers, he's gonna send a squad of paladins and a platoon of light infantry for support, about 50 men in total. But they're gonna take longer since they're moving by truck." Sarah concluded the situation report.

"50 men? And by truck?" Ashley asked in confusion.

"Oh yeah, I never got to tell you all this. We've been looking for the Midwest section of the brotherhood, who basically went rogue a while back cause they didn't agree with Lost Hills. Turns out they weren't hard to miss at all, they control just about the entire region that used to be the Midwestern United States. Population is spread and not too high, maybe half of the NCR. But they kicked the Legion's ass on their side, while the NCR struggles, that should tell about military power." Sarah said, causing Ashley to grin.

"They rely heavily on a lot of pre-war military equipment. Cause the central US had more time when the missiles and bombs were started, there was a lot more gear and personell saved than on the coasts. They even have a large amount of old army trucks and Humvees, all being kept running on spare parts and rebuild to run on energy- and fusion-cells. Light infantry comes from that too, they're soldiers with medium combat armor and various firearms. Highly mobile and effective in support of the armored paladin squads. They got the same problem we started to have before we fucked up the Enclave, not enough power armor for all the men and women. They solved it their way."

"Sounds interesting. Anyway, when are they expected to be here?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know how long they're gonna take. Our units are probably her in two to three days. Until then we're gonna stay put here, defend the place in case it's needed and clean out everything that's not necessary for us." Sarah finished her speech.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Am I planned anywhere? Or free to go as always?" Ashley asked.

"You'll always be our outside element Mitchell, good luck out there!" Sarah said and patted Ashleys shoulder.

"Thanks, see you later then." Ashley said and turned around, eager to get her gear and go back out.

She took the stairs up and went back into her room, where she found Cass and Joan chatting.

"There you are! What's going on now?" Cass asked.

"The usual, I'm gonna get in my gear and then we can head back out and into the Strip." Ashley said.

"What? You're not needed around here?" Joan asked.

"I might be, I don't know. It was part of the deal of my joining, that I could do whatever the hell I wanted when not with the unit and that I am free to go out on my own whenever I want. Speaking of going out. Cass, could you do me a favor and go across the street to the Silver Rush for me? I need some ammo for my gauss rifle." Ashley said while she collected her gear on one pile.

"Sure, what do you need for that?" Cass asked.

"Two millimeter EC. For a maximum of 500 caps please, no matter how much that is, won't be needing the thing so often here, but you never know." Ashley said while going over the assortment of ammo for her weapons.

"Hey, can I come along? Need some ammo for my laser." Joan said, standing up.

"I'm not your mother Joan, sure you can go." Ashley said with a chuckle. "See you back here in a little."

Joan gave Ashley a kiss on the cheek and headed out with Cass.

"Damn, that girl is gonna be the death of me." Ashley complained to herself, shaking her head.

She took her combat utility vest and pulled the badly damaged armor plate from the compartment in the front.

"Now that's fucked up." She said to herself as she tossed the useless part away and went over to her stored power armor. She undid a few straps and screws and pulled off the armored chest plate. Grinning, she put the part into her vest, closing the plate pouch and lifting the vest to check the weight. Satisfied, she put it back down and got together the rest of her stuff.

"Alright, if Cass gets me that ammo I'm properly equipped." She said to herself after a few moments of checking her stuff.

She unzipped her under-armor suit and slipped out of it, putting it next to her power armor, storing it for later use. She grabbed her new set of cargo pants and put them on, along with her combat boots.

Just as she finished putting on her boots, the door to her room burst open and initiate Procter barged in once again, freezing when she saw her officer topless.

"Oh this better be good initiate. What is it?" Ashley asked in an annoyed tone.

"Oh..um…um…I'm supposed to get you down because…your friends…" Procter stammered.

"What's with my friends? Spit it out rookie!" Ashley spat out.

"They've been attacked inside the Silver Rush." Procter quickly said.

"WHAT? FUCK!" Ashley cursed. She sloppily threw on her vest and grabbed her rifle. She stuffed two magazines into her pockets and ran downstairs, where she was greeted by Vargas, Glade and Kodiak, all carrying their combat equipment.

"What happened?" Ashley asked.

"We don't know yet, we've been waiting for you." Vargas said.

"What do you mean you don't know yet? You didn't go in?" Ashley asked, growing irritated.

"No, we were waiting for you." Vargas said.

"Oh for crying out loud…" Ashley shouted and ran out the door, chambering a round into her rifle, crossing the street towards the Silver Rush.

The three paladins were on her heels and they stacked up at the entrance.

"Let's kick some ass gents, I want this done quick and effective, no toying around. Glade, as soon as we're sure Joan and Cass aren't in the line of fire, I want you to sweep the rooms with your gatling, don't give them a chance." Ashley ordered.

"Got it, let's go." Glade said, powering up his heavy weapon.

Vargas used the enhanced strength of his armor suit and kicked the door in, causing surprised stares from the inhabitants. Directly behind the door were Joan and Cass on the ground, a few van Graff Guards kneeling over them.

Ashley made quick work of them, dispatching them with her high-powered battle rifle. She quickly got back to cover and Glade moved past her, taking a step over the two fallen women, his gatling laser soaring to life, blasting the interior of the store. Kodiak moved in past him, also shooting at the van Graff thugs while Ashley and Vargas pulled Joan and Cass out the door.

"Check Cass, I've got her!" Ashley yelled as Vargas made a move to check on Joan.

She checked her friends pulse, noticing she was alive but unconscious. She checked her, finding no bleeding, but a few nasty burn wounds, probably caused by plasma weapons, one of them on the side of her head.

"Okay…she's alive…at least. How's Cass?" Ashley said and looked up to see Vargas shaking his head at her.

"FUCK!" Ashley cursed and stood up, grabbing her rifle. "Take care of them Vargas, please…" She said and went inside the Silver Rush, where the firing had stopped.

"What's going on Glade?" Ashley asked the paladin with the heavy weapon.

"We got most of them, a few went into the back tho, we were just about to go after them." Glade answered.

"Don't bother, I'll do that." Ashley said and grabbed a plasma grenade from the shelf behind her. She went to the door that led to the back of the store. Avoiding the multiple dead guard that didn't stand a chance against the paladins.

She opened it a bit, pulled the pin from the grenade, held it for two seconds and then lobbed it into the room, bouncing it off the wall.

She heard loud curses, followed by the explosion of the grenade and the violent screams of multiple people in tremendous pain. Ashley pushed the door open and went in, seeing two guards writhing on the floor in pain, their bodies and faces covered in burns and plasma. She kicked their weapons out of reach and walked by, not bothering to kill or help them.

She went up the flight of stairs and into another room, where she found Gloria van Graff, the leader of the van Graff thugs in the Silver Rush. She pointed a plasma pistol at Ashleys head and Ashley held her rifle on level with Glorias head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ashley said.

"Any why is that?" Gloria asked.

"Plasma is slow you idiot, I can easily dodge your blast and then blow your fucking head off. Now put the damn thing down.

Gloria looked back and forth between her pistol and Ashley, then sighed and put it down.

"Alright, I don't want to die here. So there you go…it's down." She said.

"Thank you. Saves me the sweat of dodging." Ashley said.

"What do you mean?" Gloria asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Means this." Ashley said and squeezed the trigger of her rifle, putting a bullet right between Glorias eyes. She turned around and walked down without looking back. On the way out, she also shot the two guards that were still groaning in pain from the plasma blast.

She went out and didn't find Joan or Cass, only Vargas standing around giving orders to the rest of the unit about how to deal with the Silver Rush situation.

"Where are they, Vargas?" She asked.

"We brought them over into the lobby." He simply said.

Ashley ran over and inside, where she found Knight Sergeant Thompson tending to Joan.

"How is she Sarge?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"She's stable, but not well, that plasma blast to the head didn't do her any good. Probably a coma, but I really don't know for sure, I'm not a doctor." He answered.

"Great…and now what?" Ashley asked.

"One of the Vertibirds that's coming here from the Citadel has an Auto-Doc loaded, that'll get her back on her feet. She just has to hang on until they get here." Sarah said from behind her.

"Great, thanks!" Ashley said in relief. "And…where did you bring Cass?" She asked.

"Back there, behind the scenes so to speak, I thought that not everybody had to see her." Sarah answered and pointed behind the counter.

"Thanks." Ashley said and went to her dead friend, who was placed on a table, her weapons neatly stacked besides her.

"I'm sorry Cass." Ashley simply said.


	24. Chapter 24

**Okay. This one is kinda written more from Joans perspective...wanted to play around with it a bit, hope it's still okay.**

**It's also a tad shorter, but I wanted to give you something for all the amazingly nice reviews, thank you very much guys!**

**And here we go, enjoy!**

* * *

„Hey, I think she is waking up." One of the scribes in the infirmary said.

"Get Sentinel Lyons!" Another one said and rushed over to the single Auto-Doc in the corner.

He tapped some buttons and powered the machine off, opening it. Another scribe rushed over and helped him unplug Joan from the Auto-Doc and get her on a nearby bed, where she slowly stirred back to consciousness.

"What's going on? What the hell is so important?" A female voice rang out in the room, Sarah arrived in tow of a scribe, looking around.

"Ah Sentinel Lyons, good morning Ma'am. You'll be happy to know, that our civilian guest is waking up. Her vitals look good, she's fit. I figured you would want to talk to her." The scribe in charge said.

Joan opened her eyes and looked around before slowly sitting up with a groan.

"What the hell? What happened?" She asked in confusion, rubbing her head.

"You've been out cold for three weeks. " The scribe said.

"Three weeks? What the fuck…." Joan said in shock.

"Don't worry, you are alright now, the Auto-Doc fixed you up nicely. Based on first impression, your brain didn't get damaged either. That means my work here is done, now the Sentinel here wants a word with you." The scribe said and left.

"What happened Sentinel?" Joan asked.

"You've been attacked when you entered the Silver Rush. Apparently the van Graffs had some problems with your friend Cass. You've been hit in the head, probably by accident…and she's been killed." Sarah said.

"Cass is dead? Oh my god…" Joan said, falling back onto the bed.

"Where's Ashley?" She asked after a few moments "Is she alright?"

"She's on a mission, she's alright." Sarah answered.

"You sent her on a mission after all this?" Joan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes I did, I couldn't stand seeing her wallow in self-pity any longer, had to do something." Sarah said in defense.

"So, is she alone or what? What's this mission she's on? When will she be back?" Joan asked.

"Can't tell you. Altho she is not alone." Sarah said.

"Well that's good to know. I hope she's…." Joan said and was interrupted by a knight bursting through the door of the infirmary.

"Sentinel Lyons, you wanted and ASAP report when we know something. They're coming back, one of our posts saw them, they're gonna be here any minute." The knight said.

"Great, get Paladins Vargas , Glade and Kodiak. I'll be outside in a minute." Sarah said. and the knight rushed back out.

"They're home, wanna come out with me?" She asked Joan.

"I'm gonna try if I can stand right first. Then I'll put some clothes on and freshen up. I'll be out in a bit." Joan said to the Pride's leader, who took her helmet and left.

Joan swung her feet off the bed, setting them down on the floor. She took a breath and stood up. Shaking slightly, she realized she could stand and took some careful, wobbly steps. After a little lap around her bed, she felt confident enough to pick up the clothes that were next to her bed and head to the bathroom.

After she had washed her face and checked herself in the mirror, she put on the pants and shirt that was given to her, and slowly made her way outside, where she was blinded by the bright sun. After her eyes adjusted, she was amazed by what she saw. There were people in grey clothes walking around the place, all donning the Brotherhood symbol somewhere on their uniform. The building complex across the street was completely gone, instead of it there were several big vehicles and two Vertibirds parked. What used to be the Silver Rush now had a sign over the door that said 'Armory and Command'.

"There you are. Walking alright?" Sarah, who stood nearby with Kodiak, Glade and Vargas, greeted her.

"Lil shaky, but I'll manage. So what the hell is going on here?" Joan asked, still in awe.

"Well, you've been out three weeks, a lot happened. Our reinforcements finally arrived. With that, we had enough manpower to make us some room here. Tore down the old, abandoned Buildings over there to make some parking space for our Midwestern brothers and their trucks. Also we were able to show some presence. We now have an agreement with the Kings, that we are in charge of security around Freeside. No more hinky bodyguards and thugs." Sarah said.

"Well that's good I guess. So when is Ashley getting in?" Joan asked, just as she heard a lot of –to her- rather unknown noise from down the street, as several pre-war Humvees and two trucks rounded the corner, the Humvees equipped with a variety of weapons on top, some manned, most not.

"Speak of the devil, there they are. But that doesn't look too promising. Wait a second." Sarah said as she walked to the first vehicle that had stopped together with her teammates. A very beat-up looking Brotherhood soldier stepped out from the passenger side of the vehicle.

"If you want infos Ma'am, I suggest you talk with the Captain, she's in the next vehicle." The man said.

Sarah walked to the next Humvee, where Ashley was just getting out. Her combat vest partially opened and worn over a torn and dirty shirt with a bloody sleeve. She looked tired and exhausted and was smoking a cigarette, her rifle carelessly slung over her shoulder.

"Mitchell, what the hell happened? What's with the casualties? This was supposed to be a simple mission!" Sarah said, looking around, watching as several wounded and a few dead soldiers were unloaded from the vehicles in a hurry.

"It was. The Legion fuckers didn't pose a problem. But we've got a problem Sarah." Ashley said to Sarah, who raised her eyebrow at being addressed by first name among other Brotherhood members.

"What's that?" She asked.

"After we took out the Legion guys, we went in to check for survivors and useful equipment. And that's when the NCR attacked us." Ashley said, flicking her cigarette away.

"WHAT?" Sarah and Vargas yelled in unison.

"Yeah, bastards snuck up on us, attacked us from behind. They took out the entire team I posted for rear security. Add to that a few more dead and you might've already seen that pretty much everyone is wounded in one way or another, me included. We got fucked up bad. But in return, we also fucked them up. There's no one left, we wiped out the entire unit that attacked us. This is war, isn't it?" Ashley said, her voice slow and heavy, like she was close to falling asleep.

"My god….I…I don't know, really. I gotta talk to my father about this. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions, the NCR inside the Strip and from McCarran didn't make any moves, so this could just as well be a rogue unit. We will clear that up, you get some rest, and we'll talk tomorrow." Sarah said, patted Ashley on the shoulder and walked away to coordinate the unloading of the wounded.

Ashley sighed and leaned back against the vehicle, rubbing her eyes. As she took her hands away from her face, Joan was standing in front of her, looking her over.

"Joan! You're awake!" She said in relief and pulled the redhead in a bear hug.

"Ugh…easy on the crushing…I just got up!" Joan said, laughing.

Ashley let her go, grinning. "Sorry." She said. "You look good!"

"Thanks, you look like shit!" Joan said, once again checking her friend out.

"Yeah, thanks. That damn mission went all to hell, but I really don't wanna talk about that right now. How are you?" Ashley said, waving her off.

"I'm good…little wobbly on the walking part, but good in general, really." Joan said, smiling.

"So, I'm guessing you heard about Cass?" Ashley said quietly.

"Yes…yes I did. I can't believe it." Joan said, her face darkening.

"I know…and it's all my fault. If I hadn't told you to go…" Ashley started.

"Oh shut up!" Joan said and pulled Ashley in an embrace. "It's not your fault! How could you know? Please, don't even start like that!" She sobbed against the blondes shoulder.

"I'm sorry, it's just hard, you know? Been a while since I actually became friends with someone I travelled with." Ashley said softly.

"It's alright, you'll get over it. Just don't blame yourself, only makes I harder." Joan said.

"Wanna see her?" Ashley suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?" Joan asked in confusion.

"I just thought you might wanna see…the grave, you know? She's right outside the gate."

"Oh..okay…yes, I think I'd like that." Joan said. Following Ashley as she started walking.

They walked out the Freeside Gate and to a small, clean spot a few meters away. There was a wooden cross, with Cass' hat sitting on top of it and her rose pendant hung around the middle.

"Nice idea, I think she would've liked that." Joan said after a few moments of looking at it.

"Really? I think she'd call it 'sentimental bullshit' or something like that. But I wanted to make it more personal." Ashley said, earning a chuckle from Joan.

"Let's go Ash, you can barely stand straight anymore, you need to rest. And me too." Joan said after a few more minutes.

They turned and walked back aside, leaving Cass' lonely grave behind. In the Brotherhood part of Freeside, the vehicles that just returned were now parked neatly and soldiers were unloading gear and weapons. Many of them were looking at the two women that walked past arm in arm, with one of them being one of their superiors.

Joan and Ashley ignored them and quickly went back into the former Atomic Wrangler, which was now serving as infirmary and sleeping quarters for higher-ranked personnel. They made it up the stairs and into Ashley's room.

Joan slumped down on the single bed right away and curled up while Ashley was taking off her combat gear.

"Hey, who says you're getting the bed?" Ashley asked with amusement as she turned around.

"I spent three weeks in a fucking Auto-Doc, I think I deserve it." Joan said, yawning.

"Well, I just spent two days getting shot at!" Ashley replied.

"Guess we have to share then." Joan said, smiling wryly.

"It's too small, it's not made for two." Ashley said, grinning herself.

"We'll have to make good use of the space we got then, don't you agree?" Joan said as Ashley laid down next to her.

"Damn right!" Was Ashley's answer.


	25. Chapter 25

**Alright, this time I was quick! :D Hope it's any good and doesn't get boring, if that's the case, let me know!**

**Also, if anybody wants anything in particular for the story, I'm very open to ideas. I often go through little lows in my creativity, a little outside input/ideas might help with that. Drop it in the comments or in a private message, whatever you prefer, if you got any ideas. And I will see what I can do.**

**Anyway, here we go, enjoy the read!**

**pixi**

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Ashley stretched and let out a yawn as she woke up, turning around, she found herself next to Joan, who was still sound asleep.

"Well I could get used to this." She said, grinning before she carefully got up, not wanting to wake up Joan.

She walked over to the clothes she carelessly threw away the night before, picking up her shirt. 'Hmm, this doesn't do anymore…' She thought, walking over to her closet, going through her shirts. She picked one of her combat shirts and threw it on.

"Aww no, don't put the shirt on, I loved the other look!" Joan said from the bed, chuckling.

Ashley looked over, smirking. "Sorry, but I need some breakfast." Putting a fresh set of camouflaged cargo pants on, closing her closet.

"Do you only have combat clothes? You should get something nicer!" Joan said, observing.

"Why should I? Only more frustrating if it gets bloody." Ashley answered with a chuckle.

"Nice attitude there. But makes sense. So, gonna bring me something to eat?" Joan said, stretching

"Sure, I'll see what's there, see you in a jiff." Ashley said and left the room.

She jogged down the hallway to the big kitchen for the Brotherhood higher-ups, getting together some fruit and Sugar Bombs, she also took two bottles of water and made her way back towards her room, where she heard male voices through an open door.

"Come on, don't be so coy, put the blanket away!" One of them said.

"Right, we didn't find the obvious hot-girl room for no reason, so come on, put on a little show!" Another one said.

"What the hell is going on?" Ashley asked as she walked into the room, food-tray in hand.

"Whoa….damn Jim, we got lucky…another one, and she's even serving us breakfast." One of them said to the other, who was apparently named Jim.

"Yeah Sarge, good nose on that one." He replied.

Ashley put the food tray on a table close to the door and turned towards the men, raising an eyebrow.

"So…Sarge…what do you think gives you the right to talk to me and my friend over there like this?" She casually asked.

"Well, from the looks of it, she is probably a low level initiate and you…kitchen help? And since I'm a Sergeant with the Brotherhood of Steel I can talk with you however I like." The sergeant said, giving his sidekick a smug grin.

"Riiight. Alright I will give you one chance, get the fuck out of here, right now!" Ashley said, still in a casual tone.

"I'd suggest you guys do what she says, seriously." Joan said from behind them, unable to resist a grin.

"I don't think so. I rather sneak a grope." The sergeant said and reached out to Ashley.

The blonde smirked briefly, grabbed the guys arm, twisted it in a painful manner, pulled him towards her and turned him around, placing an arm around his throat, squeezing lightly.

"Do you retards know who the fuck you are talking to?" She asked in what was barely a whisper.

"Fucking bitch, let go of him!" Jim said.

"You better shut up Initiate, before I make your life a living hell!" Ashley said to him. "And to you, moron of the year: I am Knight Captain Ashley Mitchell with the Lyon's Pride. And you, my friend, are hereby an Initiate once more."

"Oh fuck!" The two guys said.

"You will tell whoever your superior officer is about the demotion and what happened. In detail. Let him figure out the punishment. And now you two fucktards better get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass so hard that you can't sit for a year."

She released the guy and they both ran out. When they left, Joan broke out into laughter.

"That was hilarious!" She said, pushing the blanket off and standing up.

"Wait, you were dressed the whole time?" Ashley asked in amusement as she turned around.

"Sure, but I saw the fun coming so I played along." Joan said.

"You're so bad!" Ashley said, then picked up the tray of food again. "And now let's breakfast, got something to do after."

"And what's that?" Joan asked, taking some Sugar Bombs for herself.

"Wanna gear up and hit the road again. Been here long enough. Time to get back on track on our original plan." Ashley said, chewing some fruit.

"And gear up how? Don't we have all our stuff?" Joan asked.

"Well we still need food, water and ammo. And I want to get you in some more protective armor." Ashley said.

They quickly had their breakfast, then Ashley grabbed her gear and walked out the door, with Joan following.

"Gonna head over to the armory, get your weapons and the rest of the things we need and then we head out.

After walking through the building and over the street. They took several minutes to collect gear and weapons in the armory. Finally they had everything laid out in front of a big table. Two rifles, a laser rifle, a Gauss Rifle, three pistols, magazines for every weapon, several boxes of ammo, grenades of various types, two combat knives, other general tools, bottles of water, food, two bedrolls and spare clothes. Below it was their gear; vests, belts, pouches, holsters and two large backpacks.

"Alright so, what do I do with the pouches?" Joan asked after looking over the stuff.

"You decide where on your vest, belt or pack you want them and hook them into the webbing, it's modular and quite easy, allows for a lot of capacity. Just don't put large pouches in the general area of your stomach." Ashley said.

"Why not?" Joan asked, who picked up her vest, checking the weight, nodding in approval.

"Because if you lie down, it'll get in the way, really uncomfortable, trust me." Ashley said.

They configured their vests and belts and put them on. Filling them and the backpacks took another few minutes. Finally they were all packed and ready, the gear equally split between them.

"So, where should we go first?" Ashley asked Joan.

"Well…the next logical step would be the strip. But honestly, I need to get out of the city for a few days. Maybe head over to Goodsprings? See how things are going?" Joan said.

"Fine with me, let's not waste time, we got some walking to do." Ashley said and started leading the way towards Freeside's gate. They were stopped near the Brotherhood checkpoint by Sarah Lyons.

"All packed and leaving, huh?" She asked.

"Yeah, on our way out." Ashley answered distantly.

"Alright, good luck then, hope I'll be able to see you soon. Remember, if you get in any serious trouble, radio in, we'll be there in no time." Sarah said.

Ashley nodded and they shook hands, Sarah also patted Joan's shoulder "Don't let her annoy you." She said.

"Don't worry, she won't be annoying me. Take care." Joan said and followed Ashley who was already walking.

"Hey, what's up with you?" She asked her.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Well, I thought you and her were friends. You seemed kinda distant and you really wanted to get out of there quickly." Joan said.

"Yeah, good eye. It's that mission I was on with the infantry. Something was hinky the whole time, I mean how could NCR have such a large Legion group roam their territory? I asked…no, begged her for at least one Vertibirds to cover our asses and do some spotting for us. But no, denied, too high-profile, we wouldn't need it anyway." Ashley said bitterly.

"Yeah…so?" Joan asked, not understanding.

"So? If we'd have gotten the Bird, we would've seen the NCR fuckers sneak up on us and hadn't been caught with our pants down. We were lucky that we at least had some heavy weapons to solve the situation. And now she makes it sound like it was my fault, cause of my poor leadership skills. I'm so not into her if she's in bitchy commander mode, that's why I needed to get out of there." Ashley said, just as they walked through the gate and were once again, in the Mojave Wasteland.

"Okay, now which way should we go? Take the direct way down I-15 or the long way we came along High 95?" Ashley asked.

"I overheard some people in Goodsprings, saying the I-15 isn't save cause of "critters", I don't know what that was all about, but I think we should take the 95, just to be safe. We could take Primm Pass as a shortcut." Joan said, pointing out the route on Ashley's map. "We'd go back to Novac, then we'd bear west, pass the old REPCONN test site and enter Primm Pass. From there we obviously get to Primm and from there it isn't far to Goodsprings. Should take…maybe 3 days, give or take. If we're up for it, we could also check out the Repconn site instead of passing by, I hear it's quite interesting, haven't been there myself." She finished, smiling.

"You're like a personal navigation system. I like it, let's go." Ashley said, chuckling.

Joan shrugged it off. "Spent enough time as a courier." She simply said.

The first part of their trip was rather uneventful, they made a brief stop at the Grub 'n Gulp rest stop, stocking up on water.

"We gotta be careful not to spend all our caps, gotta keep enough to get into the Strip." Ashley said after they started walking again.

"We'll be alright, we got more than enough." Joan said, suddenly stopping. "Hey look, ants!" She said, pointing ahead.

"Oh yeah. No biggie." Ashley said, raising her rifle.

"Hold it for a second! Mind if I try out my rifle? Never fired that thing. The ammo for that is cheaper anyway." Joan said, slinging her laser rifle over her left shoulder, taking the assault rifle from her right.

"Sure, go ahead. Remember, steady pressure, don't pull the trigger, squeeze it." Ashley said, keeping her own rifle at the ready just in case.

Joan knelt down, flicking the safety of her rifle off, she took aim. She fired several shots in the direction of the ants, most missing their targets, but stirring them up, causing them to slowly creep towards them.

"Easy there, slow down. You gotta aim better, take your time when you can and don't shoot so fast." Ashley said, lecturing Joan like a teacher.

The redhead followed the advice and took a little more careful aim, shooting after a few seconds, killing the first ant.

"Woohoo!" Was her comment.

"See, it's getting there. Do that more often and we'll make a marksman out of you yet. Take out the rest!" Ashley said, grinning.

Joan nodded and fired off a few more shots. Some missed, but the majority found their targets, killing some, mortally wounding some of the ants.

"Let me take the last one!" Ashley said and brought her rifle up, firing a quick shot, hitting the last remaining ant square between the eyes.

"Nice. I still prefer the laser tho." Joan said, changing weapons again. As they walked by the ants, she used her laser to kill the wounded ants.

"188 is coming up, what do you say we do our first stop there, spend the night?" Ashley asked.

"Fine with me, as long as there aren't any Talons." Joan responded, shooting Ashley a glare.

"Don't worry, they're dead." Ashley said in a reassuring tone of voice.

They walked into the trading post, which was now fully back in business after Talon attacked it. They climbed into the old army truck they used before and put their gear down.

"Hey, while I check the traders for anything good, you mind warming us up some of those MREs I packed? And after that I'll teach you some things about weapon maintenance." Ashley said, hopping of the truck.

"What am I, your cook?" Joan aid, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, I just asked. Chill out girl. We'll just eat the damn things cold then." Ashley said, laughing slightly.

"And what's with teaching? I wanna relax, talk a bit…." Joan said, pouting playfully.

"Work first, then comes the fun. " Ashley said with a wink and walked off.


	26. Chapter 26

**And here's the next one, I'm getting into a better pace again! I hope it's still good and enjoyable.**

**As always, reviews are welcome, even if it's bad critics. I can only make things better, if I know what's wrong, so lay it on me, I can take it! ;) And if there's noting wrong, even better! Still...gimme those reviews! ;P  
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"Alright, let's start with the lesson." Ashley said as she tossed the empty MRE bag over the side of the truck and slid closer to Joan, who was already finished.

"How can you eat this stuff like this? It's disgusting." Joan said, her half empty MRE lying beside her.

"I like it, kinda reminds me of vault food. Anyway, let's go. Since you're such a hot shot with lasers, I guess you know how to keep them in good shape?" Ashley said, grabbing Joans laser rifle.

"Not really, I just learnt how to shoot 'em. Is it that important, anyway?" Joan said, shrugging.

"Yes it is, most people think it's unnecessary with lasers cause there aren't any mechanical parts, but there are other things that need some taking care of. First is the optics. If you loosen these two screws here, you can flip the top cover open and have access to the optics. You gotta be really careful cause they are very sensitive. Just use a damp cloth or something similar to wipe any dirt off and close the cover, never leave it open for too long." Ashley said, explaining everything to Joan.

"What happens if it doesn't get cleaned?" Joan asked, watching with interest.

"Well, over time you will lose focus on the beams, that results in less damage and accuracy. If it gets very bad, the optics will direct the energy the wrong way and basically toast the weapon in your hands, so stay on it! Second thing you need to take care of is the energy-cell housing. You have to keep the contacts clean and especially rust-free, or you can get a jam just like with every firearm." Ashley said, lifting the weapon to show the parts she means.

"Alright, I think I got that. Now what's with the guns?" Joan asked.

"Well, the pistol is rather user-friendly. Since it's a recoil-action, it's not that sensitive to dirt, but you shouldn't get it clogged with mud of course. For daily maintenance you don't even have to disassemble it, just lock the slide back, clean out the chamber and barrel, put some weapon oil on the moving parts and you're good to go, easy peasy. Most jams on pistols are from poor ammo that doesn't deliver enough energy to cycle the action all the way. We gotta see how yours handles, if necessary, we can tweak the recoil spring a bit to make it easier to cycle." Ashley said, locking the slide of Joan's pistol forward and handing it back to her.

"I still need to get used to it I think, but I guess that really is easy. And I'm guessing the rifle isn't that user friendly?" Joan said sarcastically, knowing what would come.

"No it's not, it's a bit….son of a bitch, was that a shotgun blast?" Ashley said and instinctively reached for her own pistol as they heard a gunshot ring out.

"I think so." Joan said in a worried tone, picking up her laser rifle, putting an energy cell in it.

"Let's go, follow me." Ashley said as she jumped from the back of the truck, slowly walking towards the weapons trader where the shot came from.

"Do we have to check everything out? The wasteland won't go to hell if we don't help everyone!" Joan hissed as she followed closely behind.

"What, wanna get shot in your sleep? I rather take close threats out, than leave them be. And now come on." Ashley whispered back and rounded the corner of the little store, seeing a man with a shotgun kneeling next to the young shopkeeper, who was bleeding from his side, clutching the wound. The armed man was picking up caps from the shop.

"Drop it!" Ashey said calmly, standing several feet away from him, weapon raised.

The man stood up and turned around, putting his shotgun at the ready, half-raised. He smugly looked at Ashley.

"Don't do anything stupid man, put the gun down!" Ashley said, her voice and stance not changing. To Joan, she looked like a statue; it appeared as if she wasn't even breathing.

The man didn't comply, instead he raised his weapon a bit higher, his finger on the trigger.

"Put down the fucking gun!" Ashley told him, this time yelling it out angrily. The guy reacted by bringing his shotgun up, trying to shoot her. Ashley was faster and pulled the trigger of her pistol twice, sending two bullets into the man's chest, who now stumbled backwards, his gun dropping. She finished him off with a single bullet to the head, killing him.

The two women rushed to the shopkeeper, a teenager who was clutching a nasty wound in his side, groaning in pain.

"Get my pack from the truck, I need the medkit!" Ashley told Joan, who took off running, returning seconds later with Ashley's backpack in hand.

"Here you go! How is he?" Joan asked.

"He'll live. Give me a stimpak, a shot of Med-X, the tweezers and bandages!" Ashley said mechanically as she pried the kid's hand from his wound.

"Fuck, it hurts!" He moaned.

"I'm sorry but I have to hurt you some more, that shot needs to be taken out, just hang in there buddy. Joan, give him the Med-X!" Ashley said, tearing a hole into the kid's shirt.

Joan injected the Med-X and Ashley began working, picking out all the shot from the blast one by one, the kid groaning and squirming with each one.

"Stay still for god's sake!" Ashley barked as she tried to get the last one out. She ended up simply yanking it out, causing the kid to cry out even louder.

"Alright, we're done!" Joan said to him, giving a reassuring smile as Ashley injected the Stimpak and applied the bandage.

The boy visibly relaxed, laying back, breathing heavily.

"You don't look like you're older than 16, why the hell are you keeping a gunstore?" Ashley asked as she wiped her bloody hands on her shirt.

"I was just filling in for my dad, he's doing a trip to the gunrunners to get more ammo to sell." The kid said, now finally opening his eyes and getting a good look at his saviors for the first time.

"Holy shit!" He said as he looked Joan, who was still smiling warmly at him, and then at Ashley. He looked away, trying to hide a blush.

"What's going on? Been hit anywhere else?" Ashley, who missed it, asked.

He shook his head, mumbling a no in response.

"What the hell is going on?" Ashley asked, looking over to Joan who was laughing.

"I think kiddo's got the hots for you sweetheart." Joan said with a chuckle.

"Oh for crying out loud, grow up kid!" Ashley said in a playful angry tone. "And now come on, let's get you up and put you on something softer." The sentence caused Joan to laugh hysterically and the boy to look at Ashley with wide eyes.

"What? You mean…?" He asked, stuttering.

"On a bed! For god's sake, on a bed! And shut up!" Ashley yelled over at Joan who was nearly doubling over from laughter.

"Sorry, but that was just hilarious." Joan said, while helping Ashley to pull the boy to his feet, who was now looking like he wished the thug would've shot him.

"What's your name, anyway?" Ashley asked him.

"Brian." He simply stated.

"Alright Brian, let's get you on a bed, I'm ordering bed rest for few days, don't move too much, shotgun wounds are nasty. Got a bed somewhere?" Ashley said.

"No, not yet. We just came here after that whole Talon situation to take over the gun shop, dad said he would bring something to sleep on, but I don't know when he will be back." Brian said.

"No biggie, you can use one of ours until he gets back." Joan said cheerfully. "And by ours, I really mean hers." She added, pointing towards Ashley.

"Ooof course, what else." Ashley said, rolling her eyes in annoyance as they helped Brian walk over to the truck, lifting him up, causing him to cry in pain again.

"Sorry kid, couldn't be avoided." Joan said as Ashley grabbed the bedroll and rolled it out in the front of the truck's bed.

"There you go, lay down and don't move!" Ashley said, helping Brian over and onto the bedroll.

"Thanks, appreciate it." He mumbled before he slumped to sleep as the Med-X now fully kicked in.

"That'll slow us down for a bit." Ashley said as she sat down and stretched her legs out.

"Oh who cares, it's not like we're in a hurry." Joan replied, sitting down next to Ashley.

"Well, when you're right, you're right." Ashley said, chuckling.

"So, no more lessons for today then?" Joan asked seductively, leaning in to kiss Ashleys neck.

"Oh well…mmmm…guess not." Ashley replied, wrapping her arms around Joan.

It was late in the morning when Brian woke up. He stretched, but instantly regretting it cause it caused a lot of pain. He looked around, noticing Ashley sitting in the corner of the truck's bed, with Joan draped across her. His eyes widened as he noticed that Ashley's hands had disappeared under Joans shirt and in the back of her pants.

"Oh wow…." He mumbled, still staring at them.

Several minutes later Ashley stirred to life, she kept her eyes closed and stretched out, causing Joan to humorlessly fall off.

"Ugh…what the fuck?" The redhead complained.

"Oh sorry, forgot you were on there." Ashley said and pulled Joan to her feet.

"Well, don't do that please. I don't like waking up by falling to the floor." Joan replied, straightening out her clothes.

"Noted. Hey, you gonna stay here? I'll go for a little morning run." Ashley said, grabbing one o her pistols and tugging it into her belt before hopping off the truck.

"Sure, go ahead, don't go too long tho, you know I worry!" Joan said, leaning against the side of the vehicle as Ashley jogged off.

"Hey, I never caught your names yesterday." Brian suddenly said, causing Joan to jump slightly.

"Yikes! You're awake! Why didn't you say anything?" Joan asked, startled.

"Didn't want to interrupt, sorry." Brian said.

"It's alright, I'm just easily startled. I'm Joan by the way, her name is Ashley." Joan said in response.

"You two an item?" Brian asked bluntly.

"Yeah." Joan said, a smile creeping over her face.

"Wow…that's hot." Brian stated.

"Look at you all chatty and blunt. What happened to the embarrassment you showed last night?" Joan asked, grinning.

"I don't know, gone I guess." Brian said, shrugging.

"Right…gone with a pistol in her belt, huh?" Joan said, watching Brian's reaction, smirking with satisfaction as the kid blushed.

"Alright, you got me, sorry." Brian said, looking apologetic.

"It's okay, can't blame ya." Joan said, patting the kid's shoulder. "Hey, want something to eat?"

"Yeah I could eat, what can I have?" Brian said, looking over at Joan who was shuffling through her pack.

"Well, we got shitty MREs, some slightly less shitty MREs and some even more shitty MREs. Basically, it's all shitty MREs." She said with a chuckle.

"Anything then." Brian said and took the MRE that Joan offered. They began to eat, rummaging through the MRE bags for the good things.

"So, where are you two headed? You seem all packed up, long way ahead?" Brian asked while chewing.

"Not too long, but we don't know how long we will be out. Right now we're headed for Goodsprings. If nothing else comes up, we'll come back here and get into the Strip." Joan said.

"Where are you from? Ashley doesn't sound and look like she's from around here." Brian asked, picking some cookies from his meal-bag and eating them.

"Caught the accent, huh? She's from the east, what used to be Washington D.C. She came here on some mission, that all got turned around and now we're travelling together." Joan responded, tossing her half eaten MRE aside.

"Wait. She's not THE Ashley? The one Three Dog's always talking about on the radio?" Brian asked, stunned.

"The one and only." Joan simply said.

"Damn! I imagined her to be badass by the way he talks about her, but I didn't picture her so…" Brian said, looking for a word.

"Hot?" Joan asked, chuckling.

"Yeah." Was Brian's answer.

"Well, she's the full package. Can't ask for more. Oh and by the way, I forgot to give this to you last night. You should keep it, just in case." Joan said and handed the raiders shotgun to Brian, who took it and held it a bit clumsily.

"What, never held a gun?" Joan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I did shoot pistols, I never had a rifle or shotgun tho." Brian said, looking the weapon.

"Well, I guess someone's gotta teach once your wound is healed up. You could ask Ashley. And now, do you mind if I take a little nap? I woke up way too rough and early." Joan said, leaning back against the side of the truck.

"Not at all, I won't be going anywhere." Brian said as Joan went to sleep.


	27. Chapter 27

**What's up readers? Had a slight case of the writers block, but here we go with the next chapter, hope you like it!**

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Ashley returned half an hour later and climbed back on the truck.

"Why the hell is she sleeping again?" She asked Brian, who snapped out of his own half-doze.

"What? Oh…hi...I don't know, guess she was tired." He answered, barely containing his open stare towards Ashley, who now sat down and started cleaning one of her guns

"Something wrong?" She asked, without looking up.

"What? How did you…?" Brian started.

"Call it intuition. So what's wrong?" Ashley asked, still not looking up.

"You're really the Lone Wanderer?" He asked.

Ashley sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"She told you?" She asked.

"I asked her." Brian answered.

"I see. Well yes, I am the Lone Wanderer." She responded.

"That's so cool." Brian said excitedly.

"The whole thing wasn't all good." Ashley said seriously, picking up one of her smaller bags, shaking it to make sure it contained her caps.

"What wasn't?" Brian asked curiously.

"For example, it turned an innocent teenager into an ice-cold killer." Ashley told him coldly and jumped off the truck.

Brian just looked after her, unable to respond anything.

"What's going on?" Came Joan's sleepy voice.

"Nothing, Ashley was here." Brian said.

"Where'd she go?" Joan asked, sitting up.

"Don't know, she grabbed one of the smaller bags and left." He said.

"Probably buying something." Joan said, leaning back.

"How do you know that?"

"She took the bag with the caps in it."

"And how do you know that? Memorized the content of every bag?"

"I got a good memory, yes".

Just as they finished talking, Ashley walked back up to the truck, a big bag slung over her back.

"What did you buy now?" Joan asked in a playfully accusing tone.

"You'll see. Brian, your father's back. Told him where you are, he's coming over." Ashley said, setting the bag down onto the truck.

"Seriously, what's in there?" Joan asked, looking at the bag.

"Shut up, you'll see soon enough, curious brat!" Ashley said, chuckling.

"Brian?" A man behind them suddenly asked, causing Ashley to turn around.

"He's on the truck." She said, pointing to Brian.

"You alright kid?" The father asked.

"Sure dad, the ladies here patched me up and killed the asshole." Brian said.

Brian's father looked around, noticing all the gear spread around the truck.

"This all yours?" He asked, looking at Ashley who was casually leaning against the side of the truck.

"Yeah, why?" She asked.

"You got more gear than I have in my shop, and here I was thinking you desperately need equipment by the way you begged me to sell you the rifle." He said, laughing.

"So it is a rifle! What kind?" Joan stepped in, asking.

"Shut up!" Ashley said, giving Joan a playful nudge.

"Anyway, guess I have to thank you for taking care of Brian here, without you he probably wouldn't be here. I'm John by the way." He said, taking Ashley's hand and shaking it.

"No sweat John. I don't mind helping people that actually deserve it." She said, smiling.

"Which brings me to my question." John started.

"Oh yeah? What question?" Joan asked suspiciously.

"Well, I can see that you two are well capable of taking care of yourselves. So I was wondering, if you could maybe help out with that raider problem." He said.

"What raider problem?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Well, the guy you shot was only part of a group of degenerates that just won't leave me alone, they come by all the time, harassing us for protection money. I was wondering if you could take care of them for me. They're based in an old shack not far from here. I'd pay you, of course." John said.

"I'll think about it. Right now we got something to do." Ashley said.

"Thank you! Come on Brian, let's go!" John said to Brian, who carefully climbed off the truck. He turned to Ashley and Joan, grinning.

"Thank you two, really." He said.

"No problem, take care buddy!" Ashley said and bumped her fist against his shoulder.

"Catch you later!" Joan said as Brian and his dad walked away.

"Oh man, hey kid! You forgot something!" Ashley yelled and tossed the shotgun she gave him to Brian as he turned around.

"A shotgun? Where the hell did you get that?" John asked.

"Ashley gave it to me; it belonged to the douche she killed." Brian said and slung the gun over his shoulder, grinning.

"Alright, let's go Joan, we got something to do." Ashley said, slung the big bag over her shoulder again and picked up her FAL, motioning for Joan to follow her.

Joan quickly picked up her new carbine and followed. "So where the hell are we going, anyway?"

"You'll see." Was Ashley's response.

They walked about a hundred meters away from the trading post to a spot on the road where they could overlook the entire El Dorado dry lake and HELIOS One on the other side.

"Alright, this is good." Ashley said and put all her stuff down. She opened the bag and looked up to Joan. "I noticed something on you last night."

"Yeah? What's that?" Joan asked in confusion.

"Your hands." Ashley said.

"My hands?" Joan asked, looking down at her hands.

"They don't shake. At all. I never seen anyone with such calm hands." Ashley said as she opened the bag, revealing a big rifle with a scope. "So I'm gonna teach you how to snipe." She said, grinning at Joan.

"Why me? I mean, seriously, from the two of us, you clearly are the sniper." Joan said, dumbfounded.

"Me? Please, I might be a good shot on combat distance, but beyond two hundred meters I can't hit shit. And I'm gonna teach you to do just that." Ashley said, taking the rifle out of the bag, folding the mounted bipod down and setting it at the edge of the road.

"Well, I guess it can't hurt to try, at least it will be fun. What kind of rifle is this?" Joan said and knelt across from Ashley.

"I don't know what they called it before the war, but it's definitely military. It's a point three-three-eight magnum, a really nasty round, incredible accuracy and range and a lot of punch." Ashley explained, pulling out a magazine with the large .338 bullets in it.

"If you say incredible range, how much are we talking?" Joan asked, staring at the big rounds.

"I don't know exactly, but the Brotherhood archives mentioned distances way beyond two thousand meters." Ashley said as she loaded the magazine into the rifle and worked the bolt to chamber a round.

"Wow, that's a lot. So what do you want me to shoot?" Joan asked, looking out over the dry lake.

"Well, first we'll shoot some stationary targets and annoy the NCR a bit in the process." Ashley said, smirking.

"What do you mean?" Joan saked.

"We're gonna shoot some of the collector panels of Helios One." Ashley said, chuckling.

"You gotta be kidding me, are you serious?" Joan asked.

"Sure, the damn thing isn't working anyway so we don't hurt the people, we only harass NCR and that's worth the effort."

"Okay you're right, let's do it." Joan said as she laid down at the rifle, picking it up, looking through the scope. "Oh wow...I've never seen a scope like that. What are all the markings?"

"Well, the crosshair itself is self-explanatory I think. On it are drop markings, they're in increments depending on the range you're shooting at. At 600 meters, one dot is about 21 inches adjustment, it's really a matter of getting used to." Ashley explained.

"And what are those bars and the line on the bottom?" Joan asked, still looking through the scope.

"That's for estimating ranges. You got markings for 400 to 1200 meters on there. It is calibrated for a target of about 5'8 in height. So if a guy in your scope fits between the bottom line and the 400 meters bar, he's 400 meters away." Ashley explained while digging through her pack for her binoculars.

"Ah cool, so which of the drop markings do I use for 400 meters?" Joan asked.

"You don't, you use the knob on the side of the scope for range adjustments. If you do that right, you can simply use the central crosshair for aiming. If you look in the pouch that is slung around the stock of the rifle, you'll find a range table for the scope. Don't lose that, or you need to calculate the values yourself every time." Ashley said, pointing to the pouch at the buttstock of the rifle.

Joan dug out the little list and looked at it.

"Alright, so at 400 meters I'd leave it at zero?" She asked after studying the table.

"Yep, the rounds are so powerful that this is enough. On anything under 400 meters you'd technically have to put it on a negative value. That is possible, but not practical, you just keep it at zero and aim for center of mass, you'll get a bodyshot and that brings anyone down, I've seen these rounds crack power armor." Ashley said, looking downrange with her binoculars. "As for those collectors, the ones on the outer row should be about 900 meters out, easy prey."

"How do you know the range just from looking?" Joan asked, looking through her scope again.

"A lot of experience at guesstimating ranges. You'll get it soon." Ashley said. "How about we shoot? Set the scope and see how it goes."

Joan checked her range table, then turned the adjusting knob to the right value and looked through the scope again, aiming at one of the collectors.

"Remember, squeeze, don't pull." Ashley said, keeping an eye on the target.

"Should I hold my breath before shooting?" Joan asked, looking over.

"No, you don't do that ever, it's counterproductive. If you do something, you exhale slowly and shoot right before you inhale again. Holding your breath strains you more. Right now that's not necessary since the rifle is on a bipod." Ashley explained.

"Alright then…here goes nothing!" Joan said, put her eye back on the scope and after a few more seconds, she pulled the trigger, followed by a loud report of the rifle.

"That was just slightly left. Aim a tiny bit to the right and try again." Ashley said.

Joan chambered another round by working the bolt handle and took aim again. After a few seconds she shot again, waiting for the report, she turned to Ashley.

"Bang! Hit, nice one!" She cheered, looking over at Joan, grinning.

"Seriously?" Joan asked, looking through her scope to find the spot and indeed she found a hole in the collector. "Wow, that was cool!"

"Alright, let's shoot the rest of the magazine into the collector and then we're gonna try a moving target." Ashley said, turning back towards the targets.

Joan did the same and fired the next shot, scoring the next hit. She repeated the same thing two more times, finishing the five round magazine.

"Not bad, really. Now let's try with some of the ants there on the dry lake.

"Alright, which one?" Joan asked, scanning the lake.

"The closest one there. Should be about 600 meters." Ashley said, pointing out the single ant.

"Alright, here we go!" Joan said, adjusting the range on her scope before taking aim.

"Remember, it's moving, so you have to lead it a bit with the crosshairs. You can use the bars that are on the horizontal line as a help, but it's really just shooting and adjusting. Just try it." Ashley said.

Joan merely nodded as she took aim, firing shortly after, missing the giant by a few meters. The mutant was completely unbothered and kept scurrying around. Joan worked the bolt and took aim again, this time leading the creature a bit more and pulling the trigger again.

"Oh! Nice one, you got it! But it's not dead yet." Ashley said.

Joan chambered the next round and shot again on the now still ant, hitting it once more, killing it.

Ashley chuckled and patted Joan on the shoulder. "Nice shooting. I know I was right letting you do it. Let's not waste more ammo. How about killing some raiders?" She said with a smirk.

"Oh, you wanna help Brian's dad?" Joan asked as she put her range table back into the pouch on the rifle and started packing it up.

"Only a dead raider's a good raider honey. I'm glad for every chance to kill some…and if there's some caps in it, only better." Ashley said, packing her binoculars away and standing up.

Joan slung the bag with the rifle over her shoulder. And picked up her carbine. "You know, you'll be the death of me. But let's go hunting!"


	28. Chapter 28

**It's been too long, I know, shame on me! But here we...hope you're still hanging in and the new chap is any good. Lemme know by review, enjoy!**

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They walked back to the trading post and to John, who was putting up some more guns and ammo on the table in front of him.

"Oh you two are back. Decided yet?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we're going raider hunting." Ashley said with a smirk.

"Great! Thank you so much, maybe I can finally ease up a bit when they're gone. Here, let me show you their location on your map." John said happily as Ashley pulled out her map sheet and unfolded it.

"Alright that's not so far away, we can go right now and make it back before dark. See you later John, and keep those caps warm!" Ashley said as she walked over to the truck where Joan was waiting.

"So?" She asked.

"We're going right now. Pack lightly, stock up on ammo, leave everything else and don't forget your rifle, we're putting your skills to a test." Ashley said as she put down her backpack and started checking the pouches on her vest for ammo.

Joan agreed and put the bag with the rifle down. She took it and loaded a fresh magazine it. She replaced the energy cells on her vest with the few magazines she had for the rifle and filled the now empty pouches with stray .338 rounds that she didn't have magazines for.

"Not taking your laser?" Ashley asked as Joan slung the carbine across her back and picked up her new rifle.

"No, not this time. Hell, maybe I'll even ditch it completely, gotta say I like shooting guns." Joan answered as she worked the bolt on the rifle to chamber a round.

"Okay, you all set? Time to go." Ashley said as she audibly racked the charging handle of her FAL.

"Yep, all set. Let's kill some bad guys!" Joan replied with a smirk and a nod.

They started walking north-east, where John had marked the hideout of the raiders. It didn't take long until they had the small shack in sight, they saw it in a distance of a few hundred meters, and it was unguarded.

Joan raised her sniper rifle and looked through the scope, checking the shack. "Door's open, there's a body out front, looks like raider. Something happened down there." She said.

"Damn, see anything else?" Ashley asked.

"Nope, all quiet." Joan said, scanning the building.

"Alright, let's get closer, change your weapons, forget the sniper." Ashley said as she started walking towards the shack, rifle at the ready.

Joan quickly switched weapons, readying her carbine as she followed.

They got close to the shack, which still stood quiet, nothing moved, nothing made a sound.

"Damn I don't like this." Ashley whispered as they closed in to the door, that was partially open. She stood against the wall on one side of the door, while Joan was on the other side. Ashley raised her rifle and nodded for Joan to open the door. The redhead reached out and opened the door quickly. Ashley took a step into the doorway and aimed her rifle. She didn't react, she didn't fire, nothing happened for a few seconds.

"Oh fuck!" Ashley suddenly yelled out and opened fire into the shack. In return, there was a loud buzzing from inside. She kept firing as she started moving away and yelled "Cazadors! We gotta go, come on, go go go!" Her rifle clicked empty and the first of the large insects came flying out. Joan took over and fired her rifle while Ashley reloaded, keeping the mutants at bay. But more and more of them came buzzing out of the shack.

"What the fuck is going on? Where're they all coming from for fuck's sake?" Joan yelled over her own gunfire.

"Shit, I'm out! Go, we gotta move!" Ashley yelled and took off running, Joan staying behind, firing at the remaining mutants with her pistol. Ashley did the same after she got some distance and drew her Colt, killing more of the bugs.

They lowered their weapons, the last of the bugs fallen to the ground. They looked at each other for a moment, then broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Fuck, that was a close one!" Ashley said after calming down, loading her pistol with a fresh magazine.

"Tell me about that, that shack was actually bugged." Joan said, holstering her pistol.

"Well, at least they solved the raider problem." Ashley said, shrugging.

"Speaking of which, let's check those guys out, maybe they got something useful." Joan said and walked back to the shack, stepping over the dead bugs.

"Exactly, after annoying the merchants they ought to have some gear on them, at least." Ashley said, rolling the first dead raider over and checking his pockets while Joan went inside the shack. She took all the ammo, caps and drugs off the raider.

"Hey Ash, get in here!" Joan yelled from the hut. Ashley leapt up and ran inside, expecting to see more bugs attacking Joan. But she found the redhead standing just past the door, looking into the poorly lit building.

"Look at that." She said as Ashley waltzed in.

"Fucking eggs? You make a commotion for a bunch of bug eggs? I thought you were getting gnawed on by more insects!" Ashley said, groaning in annoyance.

Joan shrugged "Just thought it was noteworthy."

"We'll burn them when we go, can't let more of these bastards buzz around." Ashley said as she pocketed some more ammunition from one of the raider bodies.

They looted the rest of the dead raiders and stepped out of the shack.

"Now what?" Joan asked.

"Now we burn it down." Ashley said, holding up a recently looted incendiary grenade. She pulled the pin, let the lever flick off and tossed the device into the building, where it exploded, causing the small shack to burst in flame quickly, along with the Cazador eggs.

"Let's go, John owes us our reward." Ashley said and shouldered her rifle, starting to make the way back, with Joan on her heels.

"Technically, we didn't kill them." Joan said.

"We killed a couple dozen Cazadors, that ought to be enough." Ashley said with a chuckle. "Besides, we gotta go back there anyway, we just spent like a trillion rounds, gotta restock."

"True, can't argue with that." Joan said, taking out her magazine and checking the load.

"Hey, did you hear something?" Ashley suddenly asked, stopping.

"Hear what?" Joan asked in confusion.

"I don't know, just thought I heard some…." Ashley said and suddenly got hit by something, tossing her a few steps back and down on the ground, unconscious.

"What the…? Ashley!" Joan yelled, catching a glimpse of a shimmer right next to her, ducking down just in time to feel something whip something over her head but avoid it. She rolled away and raised her rifle, shooting at the spot where she saw it.

After the first few shots the Nightkin got visible, storming towards her with a large sledgehammer. She fired her last few shots before her rifle clicked empty. She rolled to the right to avoid another blow from the Nightkin, discarding her rifle, she drew her pistol, shooting at the mutant as fast as she could, not harming it much as it closed in.

It swung its hammer at her again. She tried to scurry out of the way, this time unsuccessful as the hammer hit her left arm, shattering it with a deafening crack. Joan screamed out in agony, dropping her gun and clutching her destroyed arm as the mutant walked close to her and picked her up with little effort.

"Puny human!" It growled, raising its other hand, bringing it around her neck. Joan punched at the arm with her own unharmed hand, not sure if it planned to choke her to death, or just snap her neck. She was about to give up when two shots rang out, piercing the mutants skull and sending the insides of its head splattering all over Joan. The creatures grip loosened and she dropped to the ground.

She looked up to see Ashley, half laying in the dirt, half sitting up, one hand clutched at her chest, the other holding her rifle. She was coughing as she dropped the rifle. "Are you…alright?" She asked with a big pause.

"My arm is broken." Joan whimpered, crawling away from the dead mutant. "What about you?"

"I feel like I broke every single rib, fucker got me with the sledge. But I think the armor plate took most of it." Ashley said, slowly standing up with a loud groan of pain.

"We gotta move Joan. Before more of the goddamn bastards show up." She said, holding her hand out to Joan. The redhead took it with her healthy hand, getting pulled up by Ashley.

"Hold still!" Ashley said, jamming a Stimpak into Joans broken arm, followed by a dose of Med-X. Then she unclipped the sling from her rifle and put it around Joans arm and neck, immobilizing it at least a bit. "Let's hope it works. Now let's go."

After the first aid they quickly made their way back to the trading post. Where they, once again, climbed on the back of the old army truck. Ashley used the sheath of her combat knife as a makeshift splint for Joans arm, still leaving her the gun sling to immobilize it.

"I don't know how Stimpaks affect broken bones, but it should still take a while to heal completely." Ashley said and leaned back.

"We'll see, now let me see your ribs." Joan said, holding her arm close to herself.

"Alright, but don't go all shocked on me, it's probably looking ugly." Ashley said and opened her combat vest. She took the vest off and raised her shirt, revealing a nasty, black bruise that took up a big part of her upper body.

"Ouch! That looks painful!" Joan said, reaching out to touch Ashleys skin, gently prodding at the bruise.

"Ow, stop that shit! It hurts." Ashley grumbled.

"Sorry." Joan said, chuckling.

"I'm gonna go collect our reward, back in a few minutes." Ashley said and stood up, jumping from the truck, grunting in pain from her tormented ribs..

"I'm coming with you!" Joan protested and was about to stand up when Ashley stopped her.

"You stay on your ass and rest. And clean your face, you got brains all over you." She said and walked away.

When she reached the arms shop of John, he was arguing with his son about the shotgun Ashley gave him.

"I don't want you to have a shotgun, you're too young." John said.

"I'm not stupid, I know how to use it, I saved the girls asses!" Brian countered.

"Gotta give him that one John." Ashley said with a grin as she stepped up to the counter.

"Oh. You're back already. Jeez what happened to you? You look like crap." John said after looking at Ashley.

"Thanks, cause I feel like hell. Got jumped by a fucking mutant. But the raiders are dead. So here I am!" Ashley said.

"Yeah, I know what you want. Here you go." John said, sliding her a bag of caps.

"Thanks man. I'd also need some new ammo, we had to spend surprisingly much of ours." Ashley said.

"Alright, it's on the house for the troubles. What do you need?" John asked, opening up his ammoboxes.

"Some seven-six-two, five-five-six, nine millimeter and forty-five, if you have." Ashley said.

"I don't have forty-fives, but everything else I can give you." John said and started counting out the ammo, sliding it over to Ashley.

"Thanks, but now I gotta go, Joan's even worse than me. Catch you later!" Ashley said, grabbed all her stuff and walked back to the truck, where she jumped up and sat down next to Joan, who was asleep.

"Med-X working it's magic." Ashley mumbled to herself, put all their stuff down and leant back to get some sleep as well.


	29. Author's Note

Boo! Surprise!

Yes…I am still among the living. And I didn't forget this story…I have various types of stuff 'n shit going on, but I haven't forgot Ashley and Joan.

I sit down regularly and try to scrape off another chapter…but it just won't happen, I can't get it done, for whatever shitty reason.

I have lots of ideas and "snippets" floating in and out of my mind all the time, but I can't, for the life of me, put anything together that makes sense, partially because the ideas would fit the story only way down the line, from which I'm far away, or because I just can't put them into any context that is logical. I don't even bother to write all those ideas down anymore, because I'm sure I had most of them a dozen times in different variants by now already and I'm getting sick of it.

I have also played through New Vegas again, hoping it helps….but it made things even worse, cause I realized some silly mistakes I made, especially with locations. I won't go back to correct them now (what's the damn point?), but it put a dent into my confidence about this story.

I am touched, however, that even after more than nine months of nothing on this, I still get the occasional favorite and follow. You guys seriously rock!

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions…whatever…feel free to hit me up with messages, you can also use the review function, but those are crappy to reply to.

Buhbye,

Sarah


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